


A Life Worth Living

by drainbamage954 (cats_cradle6766)



Category: EXO (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Cyborgs, F/F, Supernatural Elements, aliens and magic and war, black holes and multiverse concepts, fantasy/sci-fi aspects of a modern world, people turning into animals and then back into humans, very modified science (semi-hand-wavy)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-01 15:24:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5210912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cats_cradle6766/pseuds/drainbamage954
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world at constant war between five nation states, Seulgi fights for her keep and battles the solitude and silence by thoughts of a loyal hunting wolf. Yet not all things appear as they seem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Life Worth Living

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [red velvet exchange](http://redeuvelvet.livejournal.com/)2015\. First attempt at femmeslash so please be gentle ;~; 
> 
> Playlist for this piece can be found [here](https://8tracks.com/foxprintshells/back-it-up-pack-it-in).

✖

Once, people used to wake up in their beds with something called an alarm clock. It would ring and or beep or screech or sometimes chirp, dragging the owner from sleep to get up for the day. Sometimes, younger people would have their parents wake them up, rousing them from sleep with gentle words or hands and give them breakfast.

Mornings weren’t started with the blasting crackle over the loudspeakers in the cities, jarring into skulls and bone from communicators and implants. People could sleep in if they wanted to, and didn’t have to follow the schedule that was set from war where everyone woke up at six because that’s when fighting resumed.

Thinking back to how she was woken up every morning to those screaming sirens, Seulgi almost misses them fondly. She didn't have a mother to wake her gently, she lost her in the raids and the stupid fighting that has been going on for over a decade. Instead it was only her father’s tired face and barking rasp of a voice to greet the day with her.

But even that Seulgi would prefer to the rude awakening this morning. Nothing is worse than starting the morning with the snarling scream of one of her targets right in her ear _before_ the morning sirens wrent the air.

Teeth grit, Seulgi yanks her switchblade free from a thick hide, a snarl on her own face to match her target’s. The beast (if you can call them that, really) lets out a metallic edged shriek, twisting with it’s mechanical implants whirring and clicking to face her. It’s a big one, bigger than the job had said, about twice the size of the typical beasts sent out to sabotage the militia units. It’s _nasty_ too, wild glowing red eyes and it’s fur has been torn out in grisly patches.

Blowing a strand of hair from her face, Seulgi steps back, twisting to grab for one of her hand cannons, eyes fixed on her prize. If she can get it between the eyes, in the cybernetic primary cortex, she’ll be able to take the thing down. That’s kind of the goal, considering the only reason she’s staying and fighting this damn thing is to get paid for taking it down. 

“C’mon,” she half growls, half goads, eyes fixed on the enormous monster. Fingers wrapping around the handle of the hand cannon, finger poised precisely over the trigger, she keeps her body tense. The beast is fast, but anything as heavy as what she’s facing now has a significant disadvantage compared to her for mobility. Jaws snapping, the monster snarls, shaking it’s head and baring it’s teeth at her, vicious. It tenses, taking her in and prowling.

It would be easy to shoot now, take it down with good wound to the front or back leg, but that’d mostly just make it angrier than it already is. As much as Seulgi would love to piss this damn thing off for waking her up in the twisted ruins of an old city buried in the Wilderness, she’s more intent on just killing it and collecting her pay.

With a sudden loud snarl the beast launches, metal gears screaming on the air as it roars, charging at her with the intent to kill. Precise and feeling every movement in her body, Seulgi springs forward rather than back, using the steel toned muscles of her thighs to leap over the beast. It screams in anger, head whipping back as she flies overhead, gun aimed directly at the head with eyes narrowed.

The blast from the hand cannon jars her arms to ache, shocking up bone as Seulgi fires once, twice, three blasts from the handheld double barreled minicannon. It hits exactly where she needs, directly between the eyes of the beast, morphing the scream into a roar that rises into a wailing screech. Twisting in the air, Seulgi manages to land, swearing loudly as her feet slam into the back of the beast, it’s body twisting under her.

Directly before her, fixed in a metal plate against the back of the beasts neck, is the primary activation chip. As he beast twists, trying to throw her off, Seulgi flicks the main switch on her hand cannon, feeling the sudden heat and charge from the machine, aims and fires. The shattering crackle of the electromagnetically charged bullet slams into the plate, sending an array of white blue sparks and flares from it.

Not wanting to watch the show, Seulgi flings herself off the beast, slamming into the ground with a grunt before rolling clear. Tumbling and feeling the hard packed cement from the city under the debris of the returning Wilderness, she springs up, head snapping up to take in her target, ears ringing with its screams.

It hasn’t moved, instead slowly buckling to the ground with shrieks and stuttering movements as its internal processor is fried from the core out. Twisting, screaming and whole body collapsing under it, the monster lets out a final wail and collapses, steaming and smoking as the metal core within the animal’s flesh overheats and combusts, successfully killing it.

Breathing heavily and remaining still (Seulgi’s had enough of these damn things come back to life powered purely by robotis to not just _assume_ she’s clear) Seulgi waits fixed in place, still tense, watching the beast’s corpse before her. Still, she can feel the sweat sticking to her skin, matting her hair to her forehead, and the ache in her muscles from being slammed around earlier. “Directory,” she says, grimacing as her voice drags in her throat, raw from exertion. “Primary scan of target.”

“Inactive,” comes the automated voice from the stud in her ear, implanted into the inner shell. “Target shows no signs of life. Primary robotics core has been destroyed and the spinal cord fried due to electric shock.”

“Good,” Seulgi says, allowing herself a small victory smirk. Standing and pushing her flown away hair from her face, Seulgi stretches, holstering the hand cannon at her hip. “No more in the area?”

“The area has been cleared of all of the Janus Warg Units,” the implant reports. “Mission complete.”

Letting out a small sigh of relief, Seulgi walks towards the unit she just took down. For the most part, they’re just referred to as ‘beasts’ or ‘monsters’. That’s essentially what they are, abominations of the natural creatures they originated from and constructed in labs for combat with cybernetic and robotic cores so they’re ten times harder to take down and unwaveringly obedient to their creators. This one, the last one of those set into this quadrant of Wilderness, was set up to take out the new troops from Regal. It’s a sort of nasty mix between bear and cougar, the twisted metal plates in its body smoking and the acrid smell of burning flesh pungent on the air.

“Scan,” Seulgi says, stepping forward and leaning down, yanking her favorite blade from the neck of the beast. She can barely make out the twisted and scorched writing on the metal plate at the back of the beasts neck, but it looks like this was another unit from the SHIN labs, another T1200 unit from the scratchings. Damn things are a menace, but at least taking them out pays well.

“Scan complete,” reports the implant. It’s wired into the primary chip in her wrist, the communications device serving as an all purpose processor. Apparently, they used to have huge versions of them, called something like ‘computers’ that were the size of large books or monitors. Seulgi doesn’t remember them, only knowing what they look like from the projections in early school before combat took those too. But those were before the wars, before the idiot scientists thought to play with molecular composition and started opening up and trying to stabilize black holes out of obnoxious curiosity.

“Send it off,” Seulgi orders, cleaning off her blade and sheathing it in her belt. “Now we’re done, time to get paid.”

“Transmission sent,” the implant informs. “Calculated distance to the Regal border city is approximated at three days travel.”

Three days. Three days of straight walking in silence and nothing but herself and the implant for company. As much as Seulgi likes the pay and the freedom of movement her job provides, it does get really damn lonely.

Not that she’d give it up, being a mercenary in a time when everyone and everything is at constant war means a steady stream of work and income. Most everyone has found a sort of bright spot to the constant fighting and warfare, and she’s no different. If everyone is geared towards fighting, she may as well benefit and take advantage of it. Sure, she gets glares from some of the soldiers who are ‘more noble’ than she is just because they chose a side and a ruler to follow, but Seulgi doesn’t need a cause.

Ever since the singularities were stabilized into a conduit for other universes to start spilling their worlds to mix fifty years ago, it’s been abject chaos from what she knows. The ‘aliens’, if they can even be called that, were first celebrated. They were contact with other life and finally embodied a way to travel through space that was previously thought impossible. Then they kept coming, from everywhere, until there were suddenly thousands of them.

Then the wars started, between them and humans and their mixed kin and political parties claiming they were more correct than the others. Then someone took out the main grids, and all the technology everyone had become so reliant on collapsed, and everything went to shit.

That’s what lands them here, where Seulgi makes her living going into the Wilderness, the primary warzone, taking jobs and bounties from whatever nation among the five war states is willing to pay. It’s good work, keeping her active and with substantial credits in her account, but it’s exhausting, and more often than not she wouldn’t mind a companion.

That’s the problem with being a mercenary though. Companions aren’t really in the job description.

Stepping back from the T1200, Seulgi taps the communicator at her wrist. “Yo, Joy. You up?”

There is a brief crackle from the transmitter, and then a holographic projection flickers into life above Seulgi’s wrist, showing her a very tousled and tired looking young woman. “What the hell are you doing calling me this early?” Joy grumbles, a soft whine in her tired voice. “The sirens haven’t even gone off yet.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you get a T1200 barreling into your camp,” Seulgi says with a twist to her smile. “Wake up. You have stuff to do today, don’t you?”

In response, Joy just lets out a long whining groan and flops back into her bed, the projection flickering in front of Seulgi’s face. “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Joy grumbles into her pillow. “You on your way back?”

“Three days or so,” Seulgi answers, stepping back from the T1200 to return to her wrecked camp. The damn thing seriously did a number on her stuff. Her pack is trashed, meaning she’ll have to make do with it on the way home. The tent she’d been using up in the trees is also shredded, meaning she’ll have to be exposed, which she _really_ doesn’t like. “I’m gonna need some supplies when I get in. Think you can get me a reboot pack by the time I’m back?”

“Well, not for free,” Joy answers. “But yeah. Three days?”

“Just about,” Seulgi answers, kicking at her ruined camp set. She’ll need to get another set of cooking tools too, the tin cups and pans reduced to twisted metal and fragments. Damnit. “Any news come in from the underground?”

“Other than Nara being crazy ass shits again and preaching that the Nyx are the new prophets of our Third Era? No,” Joy answers, finally sitting up in bed as her communicator follows her. “Though there is news that Utopica is going through a whole new developing sector with the Maji and the Weres, so that’ll be fun if it turns out to be real.”

“Army building?” Seulgi asks, picking up her pack and fishing for a ration bar. She hates relying on them, but sometimes they’re necessary when she’s out in the Wilderness with nothing and a trashed camp.

“When is Utopica not building an army?” Joy replies. “Anyway, I’ll fill you in when you’re done tromping through Wilderness and talking to yourself.”

Seulgi almost laughs, fixing her young friend with a look. “I don’t talk to myself.”

“Well, I just assume. Since no one else is there and you don’t have me, you have to keep yourself company somehow.”

“I’m not laughing,” Seulgi informs her blandly, biting into the ration bar.

“I noticed,” Joy says cheekily back. “You know, the whole informant thing and undercover spy business? Yeah, makes me pretty observant of stuff like that.”

“Brat,” Seulgi says, not bothering to hide the affection in her voice. “One day someone is going to see past those cute innocent smiles and realize you’re a demon.”

“But not today!” Joy chirps, and grins brightly, flashing the ‘peace’ sign through the comm.

Before either of them can say another word, a sudden piercing wail sounds, echoing on the communicator and splitting through the air. The wake up alarms. Fighting resuming and everyone forced to start the day. It lasts a little over two minutes, too loud and too invasive to ignore. It leaves a ringing inside Seulgi’s skull and setting her teeth on edge, ensuring everything is awake. It sounds like they’ve modified it on this boundary, setting a secondary frequency in it, probably to short circuit some new tech that’s been introduced by an ‘enemy’.

“Okay,” Joy sighs, wincing and shaking her hair from her face as the sirens finally fade. “ _Now_ I have to get up and start the day.”

“Be good,” Seulgi tells her seriously. Joy sticks out her tongue. “Or Hyuk will probably strand you again.”

“I can take care of Hyuk,” Joy says flippantly. She tumbles from her cot quickly, pulling her hair back as her sleep shirt riding up and flashes her midriff. She fell asleep in her pants last night, the leather material clinging to her like a second skin and resting low on her waist. Seulgi smiles faintly, remembering all the times she had to pull off Joy’s boots when the younger girl fell asleep without taking them off. “You take care of you and get back here in one piece. No missing limbs. I don’t want to have to figure out how to do a rush bionic limb replacement when you get back into the city.”

“As if,” Seulgi laughs. “Nothing can take me down, you know that.”

“Sure, sure,” Joy says, rolling her eyes. “Bye!”

The communicator falls silent in the still of the Wilderness, the dead abandoned city eerily quiet and twisted in the reclamation of nature still motionless from the morning sirens. Letting out a sigh, Seulgi kicks together her things, casting away her ruined items and patching up her pack as best she can. It’s distracting work, and she ends up leaving with almost nothing in the pack, most of it ripped apart.

A soft beep and vibration at her wrist has her looking down.

“Report,” she tells the processor.

“Mission statement delivered and received,” reports the implant in her ear stud. “Payment waiting upon return to commissioner. Regal sends it’s thanks for your services.”

“Of course it does,” Seulgi grumbles, kicking mud and grime off her high boots as she walks through the woodland. “They all do.”

“Would you like to respond to the transmission with a personal message?” inquires the implant in it’s manufactured voice.

“No,” Seulgi replies with a sigh. Pulling her snapback from her pack, she pushes her hair back to fit it on. It’s not something she wears unless on the return, but it makes her smile. The implant falls silent, leaving Seulgi to her journey alone.

Letting out a derisive laugh, Seulgi wonders if she’s going soft that she’s finding the trip more and more lonely each time she takes it.

At about midday, Seulgi stops, pausing by a river for water and a rest, and calls up Joy on her communicator again.

“I could have been doing something important,” Joy huffs at her.

“I’m more important though,” Seulgi answers and gets a tongue stuck out at her in reply. “I need you to check up on something for me.”

“You _do_ need a bionic limb,” Joy half gasps.

“No, I need you to check on Jongin,” Seulgi tells her. Joy wrinkles her nose and gives her a skeptical look. “Not for- Oh come on. You know I’m not interested in him, or any of his kind. No, I need to see if he has any new inventory.”

“I can’t believe you’re making me go and see the dog lover,” Joy says, making a face. “Do you know what he smells like?”

“Cigarettes and dog hair,” Seulgi answers bluntly. “Just do it.” Joy gets a sort of petulant pout on her face. “Please?” Seulgi offers with a softer note to her voice.

Finally with a long suffering sigh, Joy rolls her eyes and relents. “Only because I love you though,” she says before disconnecting the call.

If anything, even if Seulgi ends up with nothing from the whim, she at least will have the look on Joy’s face when she expresses why she wants to talk to Jongin aside from work.

✖

“Thank you for your services,” says the man behind the plexiglass reinforced paneling. The bars and wire mesh against it for reinforcement almost make Seulgi want to laugh, wondering who exactly it’s suppose to protect: her or them. “May the truth shine through the chaos!” the man almost shouts behind his face guard. The reflective surface makes it impossible for him to be seen, voice coming out slightly muffled. He raises his hand in the customary gesture of the dictatorship of Regal, and Seulgi offers it back half heartedly.

“Yeah, lots of shine, awesome,” she replies, stepping back and slinging the new military grade rifle over her shoulder. It bumps against her shredded pack and the back of her thighs. 

She pops her gum idly, stepping back from the base complex of the Regal commissions center. The job of hunting and taking down the T1200 units in the Wilderness ended up not being as many credits as promised, just under ninety with a rifle as compensation. She can pawn the firearm, preferring the mobility of the hand cannons to the larger firearms that take more expertise to aim and load.

Furthermore, all the military grade weaponry typically is lacking the electro-shock tech that actually gets the job done when facing the Beasts out in the Wilderness. Maybe, if she’s lucky, Wendy will be in the district and she can pass off the firearm to her. She does good business and uses rifles more in the field when on jobs, and will actually offer a good price rather than try to haggle her down like the majority of the arms dealers.

The city is teeming with life, people in leathers and manufactured micromail slipping in between each other, various markings and fashion statements following trends Seulgi stopped bothering with years ago. She bares her teeth when a man gets too close, his dark eyes lined in black and a leer on his face. “Keep walking,” she tells him lowly, directing her sharp gaze up into his face. She pops her gum, allowing her hair to fall back from her shoulder and revealing the Mercenary emblem stitched to the padding, red as blood.

The leer turns into a sneer, but he steps off. No one messes with the Mercenaries. They’re not on anyone’s side, and Seulgi wouldn’t blink before taking someone down if they mess with her. She’s done it before, got the scars and healed bones to prove it, even a few teeth replaced and screwed into her jaw from a few hits she couldn’t avoid in time.

The Pit is alive with people when she gets in, the massive monitors projecting the stats of Regal and the movements of the other Nations as well as Regal can depict them without making itself look bad. The western district of the Wilderness is mostly occupied at the moment by units from Utopica, but Krepala is in the green for once.

“What’s hot?” Seulgi asks as she steps into a side booth, slipping beside a young woman in a crop top and high leather pants that are generously kind to her backside. The woman glances to her, her long blond hair falling in a cascade down her back.

“Back already?” she asks, her tone almost a drawl as she carefully folds her arms over her chest. It looks lazy, but Seulgi lets a smile play on her lips, taking in the aloof attitude of the other woman and catching the flicker in her glance. “I thought you had just left to go on that Janus job. You can’t just expect me to keep dropping prime jobs like that into your lap every time you come in here.”

“Why not?” Seulgi asks, leaning into her side. She looks out over the throng of people, all buzzing with conversation. “You do every time I come in here. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you save all the best jobs for me.” She flashes her a smile, throwing in a wink for good measure, and gets those lips to twitch up in a smile.

“I have other customers besides you,” Krystal tells her, raising one eyebrow perfectly, but she smiles a little regardless. “Plus, I know you don’t always play nice.” Seulgi grins and pops her gum, nudging Krystal’s hip with her own in a playful manner. Letting out a soft sigh, Krystal nudges back, letting her arms relax a bit and dropping the show. “I did just get a tip off though,” she continues, looking into the crowd. “Apparently the forces of Janus and Krepala are sick of watching Utopica push into territories. They’re forming some sort of small truce to take out a sector of their militia. Offering a pretty nice prize.”

“You mean just send me into the work of the state I just took out two dozen units from?” Seulgi clarifies dryly. She knows better than to think that a simple military tactic from a nameless mercenary will really sway the intents of the warstates, but Janus has always been a bit touchy on dealing with mercenaries that had been hired against them previously.

“Well, if you don’t want to take the job, you don’t have to,” Krystal says loftily. “I was just offering it as a suggestion.”

“How much?”

“Something around the hundreds credits range,” Krystal answers. “Give or take twenty.”

“Catch?”

“Don’t die and keep it neutral.”

The sign up for commissions is always easy, punching in the scan codes and encryptions by the backwall terminals amid the tarmac and hoisted tarps for the trade areas. Seulgi’s well used to it by now, hiding her security codes and changing them frequently to keep track and stay private. The job shows up under a red coding, meaning that it _is_ hot and that it most likely will pay more than the two hundred credits. It also means it’s gonna be dangerous, and the death risk is extremely high.

It’d be better as a team mission, or with back up fighting power.

Stepping out of the terminals and weaving her way through the crowds, Seulgi slips to Krystal and plants a swift kiss to the other woman’s cheek, making her startle and turn to her with wider eyes. “As always,” Seulgi says with a soft pleased smile. “It was a pleasure to see you.”

The corner of Krystal’s lips twitch and she lets out a soft laugh, reaching up and flicking the brim of Seulgi’s snapback. “Get out of here before someone starts a row finding out that you just stole the best gig before it hit mainstream,” she laughs, her facade of coldness flickering and fading. “Stay alive.”

 _Stay alive._ It’s basically the only thing that people tell each other anymore rather than simple well wishes. Luck has nothing to do with survival, it’s all about being smart and not getting taken out, at least in Seulgi’s line of business.

The outer districts of the city are always the most cramped, the shining inner cities mostly kept underground as their surface is left open for parks and luxury. The winding tunnels and dazzling metropolis underground shows the true wealth and extent of the city. It’s the outer districts that are the ones that host the life (and death) of the cities. They’re the first to go in an attack, but they’re the first to rebuild after a Drop hits down at the center.

The tavern is only half full when Seulgi pushes her way inside, spotting Joy almost immediately as the other girl flits around to various customers and flashes them her cute and darling smile. Suppressing a laugh, Seulgi takes up residence at the bar, waiting for her friend.

Immediately upon seeing her, Joy’s cute innocent expression drops into a look of relieved disgust. “Upstairs,” she says immediately. “Bath. Now. You look like you just somersaulted through a sewer.”

“So nice to see you too, dear,” Seulgi laughs, but doesn’t argue as she catches the set of roomkeys Joy tosses to her from behind the bar. It’s been a while since Seulgi had an actual bath, and Joy is already waiting for her when she finishes, perched on the bed.

“You know, you could wear a towel at least,” Joy observes as Seulgi walks into the main room, rummaging for her things. She has a spare change of clothes that she’d washed in the Wilderness but her main stuff is still hanging to dry in the bathroom. Seulgi pointedly ignores Joy’s irritated huff. “Or, you know, continue to scar my retinas by walking around naked.”

“Grow up, it’s just skin,” Seulgi tells her easily, flashing her a grin as Joy lets out a loud huff. “I know you’ve seen me and other women naked before. Did you get the stuff I asked for?”

“You mean demanded.”

“Did you get it?” Seulgi asks, and taps a few commands into her communicator, scrolling through the projector screen when it flares up.

“You owe me twelve credits,” Joy tells her, walking up and leaning on her heavily. She’s warm, even through her clothing, and her breath smells sweet from the ambrois she serves to the customers downstairs to loosen their tongues. “And a meal. I want duck.”

“You couldn’t get it for cheaper?” Seulgi asks, frowning as she navigates through the transfer system and her own account security. It takes only a few minutes to deposit the credits into Joy’s account, but it’s made difficult as Joy uses her as a support and leans heavily into her space.

“Times are hard,” Joy mumbles into Seulgi’s shoulder. “It took a lot of work to explain why I needed recalibrated double hand cannons and shot grenade cartridges when all I do is take odd jobs and look cute.”

“I thought you told me you could charm anyone into a good deal.”

“I did,” Joy tells her, poking Seulgi’s tummy with a huff. “The initial price for all this stuff was at least twenty.” Seulgi closes down the comm, and steps back, leaving Joy to support herself as she idly gets dressed. “Also, Jongin got back to me. Says he’s around for the next week before he heads out to do some shows and tries to pick up a new litter from the mountains. So if you want to see him, you should do it within the week.”

Grinning, Seulgi turns to her friend, pulling a shirt over her head. “How is he doing?”

“Still smells like cigarettes and dog hair,” Joy mumbles and toes at Seulgi’s ruined pack on the floor. “According to him, Utopica is looking at figuring out new ways to work with the Were tribes in the North to get them on their side.”

“Well, let’s hope they don’t,” Seulgi tells her. 

The Were were one of the first species to come through after the inks were opened up for transport, the stabilized singularities spitting creatures into their laps. They’re the rare species that mutates, a strange combination of animal and human, operating in cycles similar to the old myths and legends before the Third Era known as ‘werewolves’. The Were are different though, easy to pick out among humans and their cycles follow the movements of the planets rather than the moons. They’re some of the most dangerous Outsiders, more so than the Maji and Nyx that came in from Sector 51.

“Have you heard anything?” Joy asks, and moves to sit on her bed, watching as Seulgi finishes getting dressed.

“Aside from the usual, not a whole lot,” Seulgi admits. The cubic room that Joy managed to take for her stay isn’t bad, just a box with seals and general security, basic needs equipment and the standard power charging systems. Seulgi has been in worse and she knows Joy has as well. The communicator on her wrist flashes with a new message, Jongin’s profile opening up with a media screen and an alert. “Though the new units Janus is making are nasty. I am pretty sure I was up against the prototypes, but we’ll see what happens with them.”

“Nasty?”

“A new generation of cyborgs,” Seulgi explains. “It’s like they’re breeding the Dire trait into cross species and then stabilizing the defects with robotics. Makes a pretty obnoxious opponent.” The violent red of the T1200 units flashes briefly before her eyes. “From what I can guess and heard, they’re probably going to use them in combat once they get a sufficient breed and design. Which will make things real nasty.”

“Time to move?” Joy asks, her usually dancing eyes slightly muted.

“When is it not time to move?” Seulgi asks with a wan smile as she opens up the message from Jongin.

✖

The smell of the Pens reaches Seulgi before she sees them. She barely is given the chance to look around before a familiar voice calls out and she’s wrapped in a strong hug. Jongin smells exactly like Seulgi remembers: of cigarettes and dog hair. He smiles just the same too, arms strong in a hug around her and bright look on his face. The stubble around his chin suggests he’s trying to grow a beard again, and Seulgi has to hide a laugh at it.

“I haven’t seen you in ages,” Jongin says, pulling back and looking as bright and enthusiastic as his ‘children’. Inside the complex, Seulgi can hear them, their voices raised in barks and howls. “Not for a least a year. It’s about time you stopped by!” Jongin looks good, skin clear and eyes bright, alive. There are new markings traveling up his darker skin, tribal from the looks of them, slowly added to his skin the higher in his order he climbs.

“Yeah, well, I guess I missed you,” Seulgi says with a smile. Jongin still hasn’t pulled away, standing so close. It’s almost like old times, before he went into the order and she went off to make her living by killing. “You got big.”

“Did I?” Jongin asks, stepping back and glancing down at himself. He’s certainly more grown than before, toned and filled into his frame. It suits him, the strong form matching the strong warm person under his skin and beneath his eyes. “Well, what can I do you for? Or did you really come all the way out here just to visit me?”

Reaching forward with a laugh, Seulgi ruffles his hair, getting the same delighted grin Jongin gets under all affection. Just like his ‘children’. “I need to buy a dog.”

“Lies,” Jongin fake gasps, stepping back and leading her into the Pens. “I thought you would never get one. Told me they were too much hassle for your line of work.” 

They’re situated in some of the old abandoned warehouses near the edge of the city. Inside, just as they used to hold cargo, the pens host now dogs, or wolves really. It’s a mass of breeds, hunting dogs, wolves, Direwolves, even some of the mixed breeds with the Were or the Others. It’s an impressive selection. Walking among them, Jongin looks in his element, alive and tall, fond look on his face as he looks over his breeds.

Not one to be pushed down by his childish teasing, Seulgi punches him in the shoulder, hard. Scoffing at his pouting wince as he rubs the ‘wound’, Seulgi tosses her hair over her shoulder. “I’m serious,” she says, looking around at the Pens. “I’ve run into a bit of stuff lately that makes it practical to have a good breed with me. I figured I’d ask you first, since I actually know you won’t just sell me a beast that’ll rip my throat out.”

“Any breed you get from me will be yours,” Jongin tells her, a warm smile on his face as he looks at her. “I take good care of my kids, and they’ll take good care of you.” He looks out over his breeds, hands on his hips as they turn to him, noses in the air in all shapes and sizes. “What kind of companion are you looking for.”

“You keep saying companion like it’s going to be my new friend,” Seulgi observes, looking over the kennels as well. There are a lot of them, ranging from lean smaller dogs, clearly built for speed, and then huge Direwolves, almost the size of deer, and looking capable of ripping an ox in two with their huge jaws. “I need a wolf that will hunt and also knows how to fight.”

“I say companion because that’s what you will have once you leave here,” Jongin says seriously. “If it’s a tracking breed or one of the Direwolves, you’re going to have something that is loyal and lives and breathes with you. I don’t raise bad animals.”

“I never said you did,” Seulgi says, wanting to roll her eyes at Jongin’s apparent offense. “I trust you,” she adds, and Jongin softens a little. “So, what do you recommend? I’m going into thick territory, with fighting and the constant threat of the war, so I need-”

“Something that reflects that,” Jongin finishes, a knowing smirk on his face. Some of the ink against his skin almost seems to move as he turns, flexing against his neck as it appears to crawl up to his jawline. Seulgi wonders how much of it is actual ink and how much is the Maji tribal markings, infused with the presence of magic that had been brought with them when they came from Sector 51. “How about Chansik? He’s loyal and an excellent fighter.”

The hound in question is a purebred hunting dog, his eyes dark and fur pitch black. He almost looks like a shadow, eyes piercing as they fix on Seulgi and he stares silently at her. He appears to be a good choice but…

“No,” Seulgi says, shaking her head and stepping back from the pen of dogs. “I need something with a bit more bite to it. Do you have any cross breeds between the Direwolves and-”

“Are you sure you want something with Direwolf blood?” Jongin asks, frowning as he looks over at the pen of the breeds in question.

The Dire breeds came into existence after the Maji flooded the planet. They brought with them enormous creatures, far larger than the animals that existed on Earth that was. They were massive, taking down prey easily and upsetting the natural balance. It wasn’t long before they earned the reputation of ‘Dire’ based on the old myths of huge hulking beasts, and soon after they were bred and kept for practical purposes. Some still live in the wild, but they’re rare and extremely dangerous.

The selection of Direwolves Jongin has is… impressive considering they tower nearly as tall as he does. Huge, unearthly creatures with wisdom and viciousness in their eyes that growls with knowledge beyond this world. It resonates in Jongin though, in his heritage, his Maji blood, and the markings growing on his skin as his bond with the animals grows.

Seulgi can feel it, and turns from the pen for the Direwolves. They’re only held in the kennel for their obedience to Jongin, and Seulgi knows they could break through it like twine and run free. But they don’t, a symbol of Jongin’s power over them and all of his breeds. “Not a pure Direwolf,” she says, looking towards a kennel near the back. “Something more like a mixed breed between them and a-”

“So you want a true hunter,” Jongin answers, cutting her off again with a bit of a bemused look. “That’s a vicious breed you’re after.”

“I wanted something to match me well,” Seulgi answers. Jongin barks out a laugh, an echoing howl and barking clammer following the sound of his ringing voice.

“How about Flower?” Jongin suggests, gesturing into the pen. Which one is ‘Flower’ exactly is beyond Seulgi, as in the pen in question the hunting wolves, a bit larger than typical grey wolves, are all currently in a ball of snarling snapping jaws. It’s hard to tell how many wolves there are amidst the fighting, and Seulgi feels a brief moment of hesitation at getting a wolf that’s so violent. “Ay!” Jongin shouts, clicks his tongue and whistles low.

Immediately, the wolves break apart with a final snarl, turning to him and all ceasing their row. One, closest to them, has it’s lips curled back in a snarl, eyes bright and almost glowing amber. “So,” Seulgi says, looking at the wolf that is still poised with raised hackles, staring at Jongin and herself. “Which one is ‘Flower’?”

“That one,” Jongin indicates, pointing with a smile to the wolf currently snarling at Seulgi.

“He seems-”

“She,” Jongin corrects.

Turning to flash him a brief look, Seulgi turns back to the wolf. The snarl has abated, but the wolf still looks intimidating. She’s a large creature, probably would stand as tall as Seulgi’s elbow. “She seems friendly.”

“You asked for a hunting wolf,” Jongin says with a loud laugh, looking down at ‘Flower’ with a fond look in his eye. “She’s actually a great wolf. Loyal, fierce, extremely competent, and never afraid to jump into a fight. I think you’d like her.” ‘Flower’ snaps her jaws, letting out a low growl.

“As long as she doesn’t rip my throat out,” Seulgi says. ‘Flower’s eyes are sharp, keen and flickering as they move between Jongin and Seulgi. She’s a stunning wolf really, sleek gray coat and a wonderful build. She’s strong, toned, and honestly quite a beautiful creature. “I like her.”

The wolf settles a bit as Jongin explains a few things, regular care and working, the bonding process that will transfer ownership and therefore alliance, the ‘calling’, and basic training. “I promise, I’ll take good care of her, papa,” Seulgi teases when Jongin keeps glancing back at ‘Flower’ as if worried.

“I know you will,” Jongin admits, but looks a bit more relaxed as he finally calls ‘Flower’ forward. “I just- I’m worried about both of you if you’re out there.”

“I can take care of myself,” Seulgi says, and then bites her tongue. Part of the reason she’s here is because she’s worried about that, about finding herself up against something she can’t take down. A wolf would help. She’s also here because even just having the company of a wolf would probably chase away some of the idle loneliness that creeps up on her. “And now I’ll have ‘Flower’ to help look after me too.” ‘Flower’ snorts at her, but sits when Seulgi throws her a raised look. There’s a flicker in the wolf’s eyes that Seulgi almost… “Plus, you know how well I look after my things.” Jongin gets a toothy grin and Seulgi laughs, wrapping an arm around his neck and tugging him down, ruffling his hair with aggressive fondness. “Took care of you at one point!” she jeers, laughing as Jongin yelps with his own laughter, trying to shove her off.

“Okay, okay, fine,” Jongin says, bright with laughter and flushed. “You’re a big girl and so is ‘Flower’-” ‘Flower’ snorts again and her ears go back a little as Jongin looks at her fondly “- I just worry about my girls.”

“Worry about yourself and let your girls take care of themselves,” Seulgi laughs, shoving Jongin’s grinning face away. Yet when she reaches for ‘Flower’, the wolf’s ears go flat back and she snaps, a vicious snarl emitting from her throat.

Somehow, this makes Jongin laugh. “Try that again if you want to lose your hand,” he almost giggles, and then takes Seulgi’s hand instead. Rolling up the sleeve of her leather jacket, he dips his fingers into a pouch at his waist, pulling them out brown and glistening. It looks like mineral paint, similar to the tattoos on his skin. “Hold still,” Jongin instructs her.

The first touch is almost cool, like a lick of water against her skin and Seulgi pushes down a shiver. Jongin draws careful lines over the inside of her forearm, muttering in a soft jumbled tone that sounds eerie, a mix of sound more than syllables. As his fingers draw over her skin, the painted lines from his fingertips glow and warm, sinking into her skin. Glancing over, ‘Flower’ is watching them intently, her amber eyes bright and fixed on Jongin’s fingers against Seulgi’s wrist.

With a final close of his hand over the bottom of the design, Jongin lets out a low heavy sigh, pressing down hard. Eyes closed, he breathes in deep, then opens them, the light in them almost gleaming, before stepping back. ‘Flower’ doesn’t move, instead watching him silently with her body tense. She lets out a soft growl as he extends his hand, placing the palm directly over the center of her head, pressing down gently between her ears.

Half expecting ‘Flower’ to leap up with a snarl and take Jongin’s hand off, Seulgi is surprised as the wolf instead quiets, head bowing in respect. Then the wolf looks up, eyes bright, and fixes on Seulgi. She doesn’t snarl or growl or tense, but instead looks at her with the utmost attention and devotion.

“She’s a class breed,” Jongin says, stepping back to stand beside Seulgi. At a glance, Seulgi knows the markings on his skin aren’t only tattoos, they’re tribal brandings, connecting him to his own Maji. “Take care of her, and she’ll never leave you.”

“So this is what it feels like to be a master,” Seulgi muses, looking down at the wolf she’s just been bound to.

“Or a parent,” Jongin elaborates, and the gentle look of affection in his eyes is almost overpowering. “You can touch her now.”

‘Flower’ doesn’t move to bite, or hurt, or do anything aside from accept the gentle pat that Seulgi delivers to the top of her head. In fact, she leans up into it, eyes closing and butting up a bit for more. Grinning, Seulgi leans more into it, petting and ruffling ‘Flower’s head, ears, and face.

“She’s also about eighty credits,” Jongin adds.

“Sixty five,” Seulgi retorts easily, smiling as ‘Flower’ steps right to her side when she stands again.

“Eighty.”

“Jongin, I’m not giving you eighty credits for a wolf that’s-”

“Seventy-five,” Jongin says quickly, frowning.

“Seventy,” Seulgi proposes. “And I’ll take you and your favorite pup to dinner.”

“Done,” Jongin says, a sudden brilliant grin on his face. Seulgi remembers only a little too late that Jongin doesn’t shake on deals, he hugs on them. Those bone crushing hugs that squeeze the wind right out of Seulgi’s lungs and leave her aching a bit even as a smile spreads on her face.

✖

Silent, the forest appears to be hiding, waiting for something to break through the stillness and shatter it. Lying low among the underbrush, Seulgi keeps her breathing quiet and her body tense, watching as the small flock of wandering pheasants pick their way through the forest floor. Tightening her grip on her traps, she waits for when they get close enough she can catch one or more. It's been days since she's had fresh meat, not since she and 'Flower' left the city for the new job and the luxuries of civilization behind them.

Beside her, poised at the ready by her feet, the hunting wolf is just as tense as Seulgi is, sharp eyes fixed on the oblivious birds and ears twitching at the sounds of the wood. The Wilderness is rife with wildlife when it's not teeming with soldiers, Beasts, and combat. The expansive military zone is kept relatively untouched, easier to get lost in and plant traps and mines in.

The soft fluttering sounds of the pheasants as they wander through the brush are gentle on the air. Slowly tightening her fingers against the trap wires, Seulgi carefully takes one of the dart shooters and aims at the largest bird among the flock. Definitely the oldest, it’ll have a fair bit of meat on it, for her and ‘Flower’. With a final glance at the wolf beside her, she tugs at the wire and springs the trap.

The snap of the wire splits through the air as the birds take flight, and with a sudden surge of silent menace ‘Flower’ bounds from beside her like a shadow of vicious mist. The wolf ends up taking two of the flying birds in one leap, curving perfectly through the air and landing with agility Seulgi might envy with her prey between her strong jaws.

Grinning, Seulgi jogs from her hunting blind to ‘Flower’ and her own catch. She ended up nabbing the large bird she’d been after, and pets ‘Flower’s head in praise as the wolf steps up to her. “Good girl,” Seulgi says, grinning at the wolf as almost thinking ‘Flower’ grins back around her mouthful of plumage.

It’s been a few days since Seulgi left the city with ‘Flower’ (much to the dismay of Joy who had promptly fallen in love with the hunting wolf on sight) and she’s growly quickly fond of the animal. ‘Flower’ is flawlessly obedient, competent, and lethal. Apart from her surprisingly playful attitude and energy where she jumps around Seulgi and nuzzles her head under Seulgi’s hand for a good rub down, she also proved her ability to kill on sight.

The second night, she’d taken down one of the rogue Infected, wildlife that had bred and become diseased with one of the alien race. Often with addled brains and vicious behavior, they’re deadly and fearless, regardless of species. One of them, what looked as innocent as a deer wandering through the forest, had come upon them in the late evening. ‘Flower’ had leapt on it before Seulgi had realized the danger and taken the things head clean off.

Of course, she’d then tried to snuggle with Seulgi for praise with her fur still sticky with blood, but it had at least proven she was well worth the credits. Seulgi likes her, a lot, and even if she’s now hunting and finding food for much more than herself, she doesn’t mind.

“Keeping those for yourself?” Seulgi asks when ‘Flower’ refuses to forfeit the pheasants she’s caught, turning up her gray head with a soft annoyed whine. “I thought we agreed we’d share.” The wolf snorts at her, ears laying back as if to accuse Seulgi of cheating her out of her spoils. “Unless you really want to eat all the feathers and carry them yourself back to camp. Far be it for me to deprive you.”

It’s only fifteen minutes on the walk back to the Old Ruins where they’d set to make camp earlier before ‘Flower’ is nudging at her, a baleful look in her golden eyes. Laughing, Seulgi takes the pheasants from the wolf, tying them to her own pheasant as she reaches out to ruffle ‘Flower’s fur.

She stops though, when ‘Flower’ goes entirely rigid, ears twitching and looking off in the direction of the Old Ruins. Stopping herself, Seulgi’s light mood drops, looking off in between the trees and faint mist, trying to see what’s caused ‘Flower’s attention. The low growl from the wolf’s throat has her dropping the pheasants and quickly drawing up a hand cannon. It fits perfectly in her hand, the weight and motion as familiar as her own arm, and Seulgi’s focus narrows instantly.

Another growl emits from the wolf and Seulgi can feel ‘Flower’ tense beside her just as a twig snaps ahead of them. The Old Ruins are known for being a dangerous area, once the thriving capital of the old world, the destroyed metropolis resides in the center of the five nations, an old forbidden relic of the old world. It’s host to all variety of madness and horrors, newly awoken beasts (like the Infected) crawling from the depths of laboratories to scream death along the regrown streets and districts. It’s a phantom of what it was, the buildings and structures retaken by the forest in a twisting mass of history and the power of the earth.

It’s the most dangerous and also one of the largest areas in the Wilderness, and it’s where the job Seulgi is on is. Utopica has been expanding its boundaries, pushing into the outer limits of the Old Ruins and supposedly using some of the old buried laboratories to create new abominations of war.

A snarling growl emits from ‘Flower’, hackles raising to make her look even more menacing as her lips curl back to show sharp lethal teeth. It’s enough for Seulgi to know something’s not right, and she’s not about to ignore ‘Flower’ when she knows her own senses are limited.

“Directory,” she says, voice cold as ice. “Area scan.”

“Life form; unidentified,” answers the implant in Seulgi’s ear and it’s all she needs. It’s apparently all ‘Flower’ needs as well, as Seulgi has barely flicked her wrist in permission before the wolf is gone from her side, a bone chilling snarl echoing through the still wood.

A second later, she’s done, vanished among the trees and Seulgi is running to follow, flicking the switch to charge the electromagnetic conduit. A loud yell ahead of her has Seulgi pushing to run faster, the following loud snarls and growls from ‘Flower’ urging her on.

“Fie!” shouts a familiar voice as Seulgi breeches a hillock, looking down into a small clearing. The thickness of magic is heavy on the air and Seulgi coughs through it in distaste. “Off! Or your master will- Seulgi!”

Below, splayed among the fallen leaves and ruins of an old building, ‘Flower’ has a woman cornered. The wolf is snarling, poised exactly so that the woman can’t run easily. The ground is scorched, as if burned by something harsher than fire, and the woman’s pack and materials are scattered some ten feet from her. She looks up, a scowl on her face with her hair flying about her face, rifle hoisted to aim at ‘Flower’ and a huge gash across her chest.

“Serves you right!” Seulgi calls down to her, almost laughing as she bounds down the hillock. “Clogging up the air with that magic shit you play with, how was I supposed to know it was you?”

“Get this fucking wolf off,” Wendy growls, her eyes fixed on ‘Flower’s still snarling form. “I’m not here to hunt you. If I was, you’d be dead.”

“Don’t I know it,” Seulgi laughs, and clicks her tongue a moment later. Instantly, to both her and Wendy’s relief, ‘Flower’ backs down, looking back at Seulgi in an almost pout. “No, you can’t kill her. She’s a friend.”

“ _Friend_ ,” Wendy scoffs, glancing up a bit reproachfully as she lowers her rifle. “I didn’t know that friends are now greeted by near death from you now. When did that change?”

“But not actual death,” Seulgi reminds, nestling her fingers into ‘Flower’s fur and scratching. “Just a good scare to keep you on your toes. You need it out here.”

“Hardly,” Wendy says, pulling her hair back. She grimaces, looking down at the slashes at her chest and the ribbons of her garments. “You know, I just bought these. What kind of animal is that? I’ve never seen a wolf able to slash though micromail like this.”

“She’s one of Jongin’s,” Seulgi answers, feeling oddly proud of ‘Flower’. As far as she knows, nothing can get through micromail. She files away the information. “Got her just recently.”

Wendy tries at a smile but it comes off as more of a wince. “Pretty.”

‘Flower’ snorts at her, shifting to settle back on her haunches, eyes fixed on the other mercenary.

“What are you out here for?” Seulgi asks, watching in vague interest as Wendy winces, tearing her shirt and micromail to expose the wounds left by ‘Flower’. They’re deep, but not specifically lethal. Seulgi wonders if it was intentional by the wolf, waiting for confirmation if it was a threat to be disposed of.

“Job,” Wendy answers, and winces as she presses around the bleeding tissue. “Had a tip off about some shit Utopica is up to. Nearer to the western border district.” Seulgi stays silent at Wendy’s inquisitive glance. She’d rather just listen then let Wendy in on her own job. “Something about them taking up new experiments to use in war and testing boundaries.”

“And?” Seulgi asks as Wendy pauses. For a moment, Wendy doesn’t answer, simply breathing as she places a hand over her chest, directly over the wounds. Seulgi watches in vague interest (having seen the Nyx perform healings like this before) as her hand glows a faint blue aura and radiates against the skin. “Find anything?”

“Shut up a moment, I’m trying to fix the damage your wolf did,” Wendy says shortly, cracking one eye open. ‘Flower’ shakes her head, as if smug about the whole affair. The next moment, Wendy lets out a long exhale, the shredded skin slowly knitting itself back together under her hand. “It’s all talk,” she finally says with a long sigh. “The area checks out. Just a few more gremlins than we’re used to. I’d suggest you go back before something comes along though.” She smiles grimly. “It always does.”

“We’ll be fine,” Seulgi says, smiling easily at the other mercenary. Wendy doesn’t have to know why she’s here, and Seulgi isn’t about to give up a good job just from what Wendy is telling her. “We can take care of ourselves. You just worry about yourself.”

The skin of Wendy’s chest is almost smooth, soft and raised on the areas that had previously been bloody and gruesome from ‘Flower’s claws. She looks at Seulgi for a moment before her eye drop to ‘Flower’. “You said you got that wolf from Jongin?” she asks. Her tone is casual, as are her actions as she makes to gather her materials she’d dropped earlier. “She’s a nice breed. What did he say she was?”

“Hunting wolf,” Seulgi answers, keeping her tone light. She likes Wendy most of the time, the other woman bright and extremely talented, resourceful in ways other mercenaries never are. She knows how to work and stay alive and has a good head on her shoulders, if not a bit more compassion than is wise in their line of work.

But she’s also sometimes too smart for Seulgi’s liking, knowing exactly what to say to get people to talk and fork over information she wants. She’s a bit like Joy in that regard, except Wendy has the added edge that she kills for a living and her Nyx blood puts her in the borderline of the Others.

“She’s pretty large for just a hunting wolf,” Wendy observes, her eyes still on ‘Flower’. The wolf in question regards Wendy keenly, her sharp eyes following the other woman’s movements closely, as if she sees more than Seulgi. “I bet she cost you a bit.”

“No more than I can afford,” Seulgi answers. “Jongin is supposed to be in town until the end of the week if you’re interested in getting one yourself.”

Somehow, that makes Wendy laugh, her musical voice ringing through the air as she brightens, the illusion of lights dancing about her sending a chill up Seulgi’s skin. Of all the Others Seulgi has met, Nyx are the ones that offset her the most. “I doubt I’ll ever find something like what you found yourself,” Wendy says, brimming with mirth. “I doubt anyone could find what you did. She’s a rare specimen.”

“I wasn’t aware you knew so much about the breeds,” Seulgi comments.

“I don’t,” Wendy says simply, and smiles prettily to Seulgi’s obvious confusion. “So, you have something for me, I believe? A rifle you want to pawn off?”

“I hate when you do that,” Seulgi grumbles, shaking her head as Wendy laughs that pretty laugh once more. “Seriously, it’s so creepy. Can’t you just do the normal thing and just ask questions instead of doing that weird magic thing?”

“Which is more convenient?” Wendy asks her, a knowing grin on her lips. “Tell you what, I’ll give you twenty credits for it, and the rest consider as collateral for your wolf ripping up my new stuff. Then we’ve no debts between us.” Her grin widens as her eyes dance. “I know how finicky you are about debts.”

“Done,” Seulgi says with a short nod. “You’ll be doing me a favor by taking it off of my hands.”

“I know,” Wendy says, that delighted glint back in her eyes that makes Seulgi’s skin shiver once more.

“Still creepy,” Seulgi informs her and gets Wendy laughing once more.

As dusk falls later that day, Seulgi sets up camp for her and ‘Flower’ amid the outer rings of the Old Ruins. Feeling a bit better with the rifle off of her hands and Wendy off towards the Krepala capital, Seulgi settles down to a good meal of the pheasant from earlier. ‘Flower’ had devoured her share once Seulgi had cleaned the birds and resorted to looking ‘cute’ nestled to her side as Seulgi ate her own bird.

“You already had your supper, it’s my turn,” Seulgi tells her as ‘Flower’ hooks her nose under Seulgi’s elbow again and looks pitifully up at her. None the less, she ruffles ‘Flower’s fur once more, getting a happy little whine as the wolf curls up around her.

If anything, Seulgi hadn’t realized before how warm the wolf was until she’d experienced ‘Flower’ curling up beside her in the nights. Larger than most of the dogs Seulgi has seen with hunters and other mercenaries, ‘Flower’ is almost the size of a bed, warm soft fur keeping heat and easily lulling Seulgi to relax.

“What did she mean?” Seulgi asks the wolf, despite knowing ‘Flower’ can’t answer her. “When Wendy said you were one of a kind?” ‘Flower’ raises her head, looking at her inquisitively. “It made it sounds like you weren’t like the other wolves Jongin had.” ‘Flower grunts at her, shaking her head and then settling back down with her eyes still resting on her mistress. “Or maybe she just meant you’re special because you’re you.”

At this ‘Flower’ snorts loudly, sending a sudden flume of embers up from the fire before them and spurring Seulgi into laughter. From the slight curve in ‘Flower’s eyes, she could almost believe that the wolf was laughing too.

✖

The Old Ruins are extensive, a massive network of old streets and pathways and ducts through a metropolis that’s been dead for decades. The buildings that once stretched higher than any trees could are gone, tumbled from their extensive glory towards the heavens to the earth where the trees and earth claimed them hungrily. The old sewers and underground network has caved in in most areas, the tunnels as much catacombs and tombs as they once were pathways. The old structures, machines, and vehicles that scatter about the area are relics, their purpose long forgotten and holding a history no one remembers.

All information, the maps of the area, is only what those who have dared to venture into the area have come out with. So much of the area is still unknown, slowly sinking under tree roots and burying under the new world.

It takes days, if not a week, to move through or around it, both from the size and the perilous terrain. It’s just as likely to fall through into an old catacomb tunnel as it is to be mauled by one of the Infected or stumble upon a group of raiders or a militia unit. In this area, very few are friends and allies, and the rule is just as it is everywhere: stay alive.

“You make this whole thing look so easy,” Seulgi laughs as ‘Flower’ leaps over one of the enormous walls of an old building. The wolf has been bounding about, apparently enthralled by the Old Ruins and excited by nearly everything, nosing into old rubble. She always turns to Seulgi, as she does now, with a sort of dopey excited look on her face, sharing her own enjoyment with the mercenary.

Now, she lets out a soft ‘woof’ in reply to the comment before bounding up to wedge herself into Seulgi’s side, wiggling her head under Seulgi’s arm for pets. Seulgi laughs, and gives them freely, feeling more relaxed than she ever has when in the area. Usually, the area is eerie, ominous and the old abandoned ruins serve as forbidding even when she encounters nothing.

With ‘Flower’ bounding about as if the place is a playground, Seulgi is put at ease, taking in more of the old districts and area without the anxiety of attack on her nerves. It makes her almost happy, smiling at the wolf. She had expected the benefits of company and at least help in hunting and fighting with a wolf, but she hadn’t expected to truly find herself so fond of the animal.

They’re a few hours from the Western border area where Utopica is rumored to have their camps and activity. “You should save some of that energy,” Seulgi says, watching as ‘Flower’ perks up and turns towards one of the side alleys. “You know, we’ll probably have t-“

It happens before Seulgi realizes there was any danger. A sudden shrill shriek splitting the air as something monstrous, black and leathery flings down on them. Then another, and another until Seulgi, who had barely grabbed her hand cannon in time, is simply shooting blind, fighting to see amid the buffeting of wings and hissing and black scaled skin. She can hear ‘Flower’ snarling and the sounds of ripping flesh, the screams of the Beasts as the blasts from her hand cannon slam into them and tear through their bodies.

“Fuck!” yells Seulgi as she’s knocked back by a sudden blow to the chest. It hit like a beam, a tree limb smacking into her and knocking the wind straight out of her. Fighting to keep her balance, she raises her gun just in time to fire directly into the gaping mouth of one of the Beasts, briefly meeting it’s wild furious eyes.

Human eyes.

“Mother fucking fuck!” spits from her lips as Seulgi stumbles back, forcing down the shaking in her core that threatens to take over her as she grabs her other hand cannon. Holding both weapons in her hands, she fires into the seething mass of monsters, black scaled and looking a cruel mockery of winged snakes with legs, their shrill screeches piercing the air.

These are new, another abomination from the labs if she knows it, and she grits her teeth as the turn to rush on her. Six of them, numerous others scattered on the ground between rubble and ruin, bear down on her, faltering only as they’re hit from her cannon’s blasts. Kicking back against the ground, she rolls in mid jump, slamming into the chest of the closest one and propelling it back. 

The others around it falter, turning in and directly into the mouth of her hand cannons and death. Warm blood spatters over her as the hand cannons’ shots explode into the Beasts. Shaking free and twisting to shoot the Beast she’d flung into, Seulgi turns for the next attack to see it coming straight for her without time to raise her own weapon.

Grey flashes before her eyes, brushing past her nose just as Seulgi expects to feel sharp fangs sinking into her face. With breath stoppered she turns to see ‘Flower’ wrestling with the Beast, in a split contorting second ripping the thing’s head clean off and crushing it in her jaws.

It’s the last of them, at least thirty scattered in the area, either hosting large gaping wounds from the hand cannons or beheaded from ‘Flower’s powerful jaws. The wolf stands to the side, over her last victim, her fur matted with blood and jaws dripping with it, panting slightly from the fight. She looks an envoy of death, golden eyes almost burning with the fight as she looks at the area. 

The Beasts bear the Utopica emblem, coding plates on the napes of their scaled necks. Rather than the unit numbers from Janus though, like the T1200 Seulgi took out the week before, these are all labeled with individual numbers.

Dog tagged.

It makes Seulgi’s stomach turn, knowing exactly what these creatures are. Not entirely Beast, but worse. Human soldiers put into the war units for super genetics. These were obviously the prototype troops, seeing as Seulgi (who, to be fair, is trained far above the capacity of a regular soldier) and a hunting wolf could take out thirty in one stint. However, the perfected units…

Seulgi shudders as she images a herd of these monsters descending on a city, taking out soldiers and civilians alike with their black wings and skin.

Panting and pushing back the fallen hair from her face, Seulgi turns to ‘Flower’. “Any more?” she asks, her voice cracking. The clear vision of the human eyes from these creatures still sticks in her mind. “Or are we off to find their nest?”

The look the wolf gives her makes Seulgi almost feel like the wolf is rolling her eyes at her for asking. Instead, ‘Flower’ shakes herself, spattering blood from her coat and lets out a derisive snort towards the carcasses of the soldier-creatures.

Sobered from the attack, Seulgi quickly digs into the side compartment of her pack and pulls own two small cylinders. She doesn’t like to use them much, as they’re so destructive, but in times like this, they’re necessary. The newly formatted grenades are light, simple, sleek, and absolutely deadly. When she’d bought them from Amber, she hadn’t really understood how vicious they were.

Seeing one set off back a few years ago during the outright war between Nara and Janus had set it firmly in her mind.

Packing quickly, Seulgi and ‘Flower’ pick their way through the district, trying to find the origin on the soldiers, their ‘Nest’ as it would be. The Western area of the Old Ruins are often the most cramped, buildings stacked on top of each other from the old construction and making a labyrinth of confusion. It’s hours of nerves on high and tension, the stale smell of blood drying on ‘Flower’s fur and Seulgi’s skin dampening her senses.

Finally, they find it. Located in a decrepit old mill structure, probably adapted for science equipment with the enormous domed glass walls smashed or dirtied, is what appears to be a renovated underground lab. The smell from the hatch to the old tunnels is enough for Seulgi to know, and the scratched markings of the Utopica insignia with the crude fresh graffiti in white and black are confirmation.

“Directory,” Seulgi commands, keeping her voice low. Faintly, she can hear the soft humming of machinery below the ground under her feet and wonders how large the laboratories are in this complex. “Scan of the area for life and activity.”

There is a brief pause in which ‘Flower’ steps closer to her, ears back and staring into the darkened building. Her body is tense, and that’s enough for Seulgi to know the area is threatening, as if the creatures from before didn’t suggest that. She doesn’t really want to think about what else they’re building in those labs.

“Extensive underground activity,” the implant informs, crackling into life in Seulgi’s ear. “Life forms estimated at 3,450 sentient units; five mile radius of active machinery within the complex; current prototype units appear-“

“Enough,” Seulgi cuts it off, not wanting to know how many soldiers outside of the three thousand are in the development stage, being mutated into those monsters for war. Not even human, but just human enough to make it harder for a human soldier to take one down.

There is a lot to be said for recognition, identification, and relation to an enemy. It’s why Seulgi prefers taking the Beast jobs to laying waste to full army bases and taking out political figures. Beasts are easy to kill; humans are killing a part of herself.

“Would you like to report in?” asks the implant, it’s automated voice almost muted against Seulgi’s own thoughts.

“Not yet,” Seulgi answers, then looks down to ‘Flower’. “Ready to make some pretty lights, Flower?”

The wolf looks up at her, then lets out a soft groan with her ears back a bit before she snorts loudly and turns back to the complex. She growls, haunches raising again as she steps in perfect sync with Seulgi into the building.

The charges are a mockery of the singularity simulators used all those years ago to create black holes, producing a severe amount of energy enough to decimate an entire city. They’re effective, sucking almost everything into the cores before they collapse in on themselves, temporal in structure rather than the natural ones floating about the cosmos, but they’re just as formidable.

Seulgi places two of them, one just outside the primary hatch she had looked down earlier, setting it to go off in about an hour. Placing the second one at the door of the complex, she breaks into a run, ‘Flower’ at her side. Usually better at long distance running, Seulgi feels her heart pounding hard and almost painful as she forces herself at a full sprint through the district, not slowing and not stopping. It’s unwise to sprint for so long over such a distance, but she wants to be as far away as possible when those charges go off.

Lungs burning and body screaming to stop, Seulgi has no idea if it’s been a hour or longer when the charges go off. The force of the blast slams into her with the force of a wall, crushing her against a nearby wall from the Old Ruins, closer to the center of the city. Her scream of pain is drowned out by the sound of the explosion, roaring on and on with the power of a thousand storms, her eyes screwed shut against the blinding light that is white even through her eyelids.

It doesn’t last though, and with a painful thud Seulgi lands on the ground once the blast releases her, weak and shaking and sweating from running. Skin scorched from the blast even at a distance, she pushes up enough to look in the direction of the explosion. Over the walls of the district is the western borderlands, smoke and fire and heat bending the air to wave sickly, the flames an unnatural yellow and blue.

There is no sound apart from the ringing in her ears and the echoes from the fires raging in the containment area. As the charges collapse, they’ll take that with them too, sucking everything around them into oblivion.

“Directory,” Seulgi cracks out, pushing back to her feet and looking to see ‘Flower’ beside her. She’s a bit singed, but doesn’t look seriously injured. Seulgi will look her over fully once she gets the report sent before they make camp. “Scan of the area previously occupied by Utopica.”

“Life forms obliterated,” the implant informs. “Laboratory complexes entirely destroyed. Main level of street caved in and all fourteen layers of the institutional complex destroyed. 7,294 life forms killed.” Seulgi closes her eyes and swallows down the bile that rises at the back of her throat, reminding herself that they _weren’t human_. “Overall status: clear.”

“Send it,” Seulgi says, her voice rasping as she tastes blood at the back of her tongue. “To Janus and Krepala. Get it done with.”

“Would you like to send a personal message wi-“

“No, just send it,” Seulgi growls, wincing as she tries to put weight on her leg and it shoots pain up to her hip. She gasps in pain and nearly buckles, startled when she doesn’t fall but instead stumbles into the soft firm body of ‘Flower’. The wolf looks up at her, worry in her golden eyes and lets out a soft whine, as if asking if she’s alright.

The communicator at her wrist vibrating slightly as the transmission completes, the implant letting out a soft beep. “Transmission complete,” the implant tells her. “Both Janus and Krepala officiates will be settled with bounty upon return to either nation district.”

“Good,” Seulgi groans, looking once more at the smoking fires in the distance. “You okay?” she asks, looking down at ‘Flower’ and getting a low ‘woof’ back in reply. 

Chuckling a bit, Seulgi runs her fingers through the wolf’s matted fur. She frowns as her fingers brush over what feels like a metal implant directly between her shoulder blades. Frowning, she looks at ‘Flower’ and finds the wolf watching her keenly, as if waiting for her to say something about it.

“I suppose Jongin did that,” Seulgi says, leaving the implant alone for the moment. “I’ll take a look when we get settled in, I promise.”

The walk to a shelter is long on an injured leg, and Seulgi finds herself inexplicably grateful for ‘Flower’ beside her, a constant support as she walks. After a brief check, it appears she only twisted her ankle, and it should heal up just fine with a good rest and looking at, but for now Seulgi is more intent on making camp and finding shelter.

The fires from the Western district’s destruction melt and merge with the sun as it paints the sky a myriad of bright colors in the later afternoon. Setting up camp had taken twice as long as Seulgi usually might have done, her ankle preventing full mobility and she ends up less than satisfied with her tent, but too tired to make it perfect.

“This will have to do,” she tells ‘Flower’ as the wolf settles down beside her. Surprisingly, the wolf appears mostly unharmed from the days battles. Most of the blood in her fur washed out when they’d stopped by an newly formed pond in the center of what was probably an old hospital complex. Cleaned up a bit and with a few rabbits ‘Flower’ had managed to catch while Seulgi set up camp, the mercenary settles in to check over her wolf.

The implant between ‘Flower’s shoulders is curious, smooth and unlike anything Seulgi has seen before. It doesn’t look like something from Jongin, who tends to keep his dogs and wolves collared rather than tagged. Though it’s hard to see amid the fur, there appears to be small engravings on the metal in marks Seulgi has never seen before.

“I guess Wendy wasn’t kidding when she said you were one of a kind,” Seulgi muses to ‘Flower’, earning a soft nuzzle to her leg in return. “Directory.” The communicator clicks gently at her ear. “Contact Joy.”

There’s a long pause before Joy’s familiar and irritated voice floods into her ear. “What? I was in the middle of something.”

There’s no projection this time, and Joy’s voice is hushed, meaning she’s certainly on a job or digging for something. “I just wanted to make sure you knew I wasn’t dead,” Seulgi tells her, putting a bit of sulk in her voice and biting down a laugh. “You know, I was on a dangerous mission.”

“Please,” Joy huffs, and Seulgi can almost imagine her eyes rolling. “You can get through most anything. I expect you’re all done? Coming home? Bringing goodies? How’s my puppy?”

‘Flower’ snorts, her ears twitching as she listens in on the conversation. Seulgi allows a soft chuckle. “She’s not your puppy, but she’s fine. I wanted you to convey a message to Jongin for me.”

“I’m not your messenger girl, you can just call him yourself,” Joy huffs, sounding annoyed but Seulgi knows she secretly likes all the ‘important’ tasks. It makes her feel useful, needed, and special when Seulgi, who clearly is fine on her own, asks her to. “What’s up? Is my baby hurt?”

“No, she’s alright,” Seulgi answers before Joy can work herself into a fit over ‘Flower’. “I just wanted to convey my thanks and ask him if he’d tagged her.”

“Dogbreath doesn’t tag any of his ‘children’,” Joy says, sound a little shocked. “Everyone knows that. He calls any taggers ‘vile’ and gets run out of the Pens for it. You know that.”

“True, true,” Seulgi muses, her fingers running along the smooth shape of the implant in ‘Flower’s skin. “Well, anyway, just send along the thanks then.”

“Of course, oh great dog master,” Joy says dryly.

“Take care of yourself, yeah?”

“I should be telling you that,” Joy says warmly. “See you in a week?”

Seulgi disconnects the call after leaving Joy with instructions for a meet up and details on the next city she’s going to be heading to. She’s had enough time at Regal and doesn't want to linger too long. Alliances form from lingering, and Seulgi has no need of more complications.

“Alright,” Seulgi says, settling down and leaning over ‘Flower’ and shifting the lamp from the small tent she’d set up. The light shines directly to the implant, glinting off the metal. “Let’s see what this thing is, shall we Flower?” The wolf gives a soft snuffle, shifting under her hands but otherwise docile. “I wonder…”

Brushing her fingers against the area around the metal, Seulgi leans down, trying to find if here is some sort of seal or-

‘Flower’ lets out a soft yelp, jerking under Seulgi as, when she presses curiously, the implant suddenly releases. Fumbling, Seulgi manages to catch it before it buries itself in the wolf’s fur, and carefully shushes ‘Flower’ as the wolf makes an irritated whine at her, as if accusing her. 

“I know, I know, I’m sorry, I thought-“ Seulgi begins, but falters as the implant, a small thin cylinder rests in her hand. It’s oddly heavy, as if made of something more than just iron. What catches Seulgi’s words though are ‘Flower’s eyes, which flicker suddenly brown, swirling with more colors than Seulgi has ever seen before they return to their familiar gold. “What just…” Before she can finish, ‘Flower’ is springing up though, bounding over her and Seulgi sputters, laughing as the wolf licks at her face. She supposes it’s gratitude, as a moment later ‘Flower’ lets out a delighted bark and butts her large head against Seulgi’s chest and nuzzles her enthusiastically.

“It really bothered you that much, huh,” Seulgi says, smiling happily as she looks down at the strange metal object in her hand. It’s odd, almost like a bullet, though rounded at both ends. The inscription is foreign, so similar to the markings of the Other’s that she almost wants to hurl the thing into the Old Ruins and forget it.

Instead, she stows it in her pack, tucking it to the bottom to be looked at in the next city they stop in. For now, it’ll be better if they rest. Settling down under the thin thermal blanket she’d unrolled earlier with ‘Flower’ warmly snuggled up beside her, Seulgi lets out a long breath. The small wound between ‘Flower’s shoulders has a salve on it to heal through the night, and she’ll worry more about it tomorrow.

The blast from the Western district is enough to keep possible predators away for the night, the Old Ruins hung in stillness. For once, it doesn’t bother Seulgi though, the warm of ‘Flower’ beside her and the soft breathing of the wolf lulling her to sleep easily.

✖

It wasn’t until Seulgi had a companion that she realized how much she wanted one. There was a saying she’d heard when she was young, apparently a mockery of the old age, how you didn’t know you wanted something until you had it. Seulgi felt she understood it some when she finally filled the space beside her with the constant warmth of ‘Flower’ beside her. The wolf’s calming and stable presence had quickly become something that Seulgi realized she had missed so desperately since she’d gone off as a mercenary on her own and left everything behind.

What makes her even more aware of how much she loves having her wolf though is waking up to find ‘Flower’ gone, vanished, almost like she’d never existed.

What has Seulgi throwing herself from her sleeping mat and with a loud yell and drawing her knife so fast she can hear it cut through the air is when she wakes up not next to flower, but with another _woman_ snuggled up beside her.

Of course, Seulgi has woken up with women before. She prefers to wake up to women. However, Seulgi _knows_ when she takes a woman into her bed, and she did not with this woman. 

“Who are you?” Seulgi snarls, flung over the startled woman still snuggled under her thermal blanket with looking up at her with wide bright eyes. “Who are you?!” Seulgi repeats, louder and harsher, fixing her knees into the elbows of the woman as the blade of her knife presses into the soft skin of her throat.

The woman, pale and with her long hair splayed about her on the ground, looks up at her with wide but defiant eyes. She frowns, almost a scowl, and lets out a soft mix between a whine and a growl.

“Speak or I’ll slit your throat,” Seulgi growls, bearing down on her. It’s not the first time she’s been startled from sleep into full alert. She’s trained well enough that she has almost no delay. A part of her is still buzzing though from the soft creep of fingers around her waist and the gentle hum from this woman’s throat. “Who sent you? Who are you working for? _Who. Are. You?_ ”

The woman, still staring up at her with a sort of bitter defiance, finally relents, her body going limp from it’s tension as he head falls back. It’s as if she’s submitting to her, boneless under Seulgi as she looks up at her. “I’m-“ the woman begins, and then swallows, throat working against the blade of Seulgi’s knife. She lets out a heavy sigh that sounds almost laden with resignation. “Please don’t call me Flower anymore.”

Seulgi’s eyes widen in astonishment, her breath hitching for just a moment as she stares down at the woman stretched out under her. “You- what?”

“No, seriously, please don’t,” the woman continues, her eyes almost pleading. “It's not my real name and it’s so _humiliating_ being called Flower. So just-“

“You’re ‘Flower’?” Seulgi asks in disbelief and mostly unconvinced. “You’re my wolf.”

“I’m _not_ Flower,” the woman defends, and tenses a bit under her before letting out a soft impertinent whine as the knife digs into her neck again. “But I am, I suppose, yours? I’m not exactly a wolf.”

“You’re not my wolf,” Seulgi says, shaking her shock a bit and returning to herself. Leaning in, she presses the knife closer, fully prepared to slit this woman’s throat if she-

“No! No, I am,” the woman protests, tensing a bit under the blade. “I’m who you purchased from Jongin, my old master before the bonding transferred to you.” Seulgi narrows her eyes. She’d told Wendy and Joy knew, that information could have been- “You’re the one who pulled the fixation implant from my back last night and broke the seal over my form. I was with you yesterday, when you cleared out the western district.” Seulgi pauses, looking down at the woman lying prone under her.

“What are you?” she asks slowly, taking in the other woman swiftly. She’s appears to be entirely unclothed, which is nothing like any Seulgi would expect trying to kill her. No one walks in the Wilderness without protection and clothing unless they’re asking to die.

“I’m a shifter,” the woman says, relaxing a bit, apparently sensing Seulgi’s own calming. “I was captured in my wolf form when I was younger, sealed with that implant, before I passed into Jongin’s protection a few years ago. I’m from one of the Southern tribes.”

“A shifter,” Seulgi repeats, trying to keep the shock from her voice.

“My name is Irene,” the woman says, and her voice softens with her eyes, a warmth in them that flickers in hidden colors.

The shifters are some of the least known Others that had come early through the rifts. No one knew where they came from, only that they melded perfectly into the humans, walking among them undetected. They can take any form, transforming into animal and human and changing appearance however they please. They’re rare though, extremely rare, and after the wars into the Third Era, they’d all but vanished into legend.

“Right,” Seulgi says, still skeptical. “So,” she says, still keeping her knife to the woman’s throat. “ _Irene_ , why aren’t you my wolf anymore?”

“Do you want me to be?” asks the woman, and sounds almost eager. Seulgi blinks. “I had been in that form for so long I almost was worried I couldn’t shift back, but I suppose finally being released from the fixation implant and after my injuries from yesterday, my body just reset.” She wets her lips to a bright pink. “Does this form displease you?” she asks, and blinks as in confused. “I had thought that you would like this better.”

“It’s not about pleasing- look, I bought a wolf,” Seulgi says, trying to keep control on the situation. “You’re not a wolf.”

“I’m better,” Irene says, and smiles with a sort of tease to her mouth. Seulgi almost scoffs at her before Irene’s smile widens into a grin. “I can be anything you want me to be, mistress.”

The word has a dull heat ripple through Seulgi and she frowns, setting her jaw as she keeps her knife close to Irene’s throat. “Don’t call me that,” she says gruffly even as Irene looks up at her expectantly. “It’s not my name.”

“Should I call you Seulgi, then?”

“Don’t call me anything,” Seulgi says shortly. ‘Flower’ was easy. She never answered Seulgi or asked questions or made confusing conversation or talked about how she was a shapeshifter when Seulgi woke up first thing in the morning. “Just- roll over.” Irene’s eyes widen. “If you try to run or attack me, I’ll stab through your neck easier than breathing, so don’t even try,” Seulgi adds.

“Why would I attack you, mistress?” Irene asks and frowns in a way Seulgi tells herself isn’t cute.

“ _Don’t_ call me that,” Seulgi grinds out from clenched teeth, but lets up enough to let Irene roll over. Which she does with surprising obedience. Seulgi’s mouth thins into a line as she pulls down the thermal blanket, revealing the bare skin between Irene’s shoulder blades and a small puncture wound between them. It’s almost exactly the same as she’d seen in ‘Flower’ the night before when pulling out the implant.

Grabbing her hand cannon to her side just in case, Seulgi sits back and takes in the woman before her. “You can roll back over now,” she instructs, watching as Irene does so, sitting up a bit to look at her and letting the blanket fall away from her. She’s entirely bare, and Seulgi keeps her eyes trained on Irene’s face. “So,” Seulgi says, swallowing. “What happens now?”

At this, Irene frowns a bit, a small little crease on her forehead. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re obviously not my wolf anymore,” Seulgi begins a little bitterly. She had so quickly fallen into comfort with ‘Flower’ with her at all times, losing her to… well, a humanoid form is definitely a loss. She’d only just realized how lonely she had been before. “So, now you’re out of that form, are you just going to leave and-“

“Why would I leave?” Irene asks, and looks even more perplexed. “I’m still your companion.”

At the word ‘companion’, Seulgi wants to push herself back, away from Irene as the other woman straightens up and allows more of herself exposed. “You’re-“ Seulgi sighs in agitation. Seulgi doesn't like dealing with Others intimately precisely for this reason. They’re either rabid against the humans, oddly integrated to the point they may as well be human, or they… “So you want to stay?”

“Of course I want to stay,” Irene says, and laughs at her as if Seulgi is the one being ridiculous, not the other way around. “Why wouldn’t I want to stay?” She shakes her head and it’s so similar to how ‘Flower’ would- no, exactly the same. Because Irene _is_ ‘Flower’ in a strange sort of way. “You didn’t seem to mind me staying when I was a wolf. What’s the problem? I can turn back if you’d prefer it, I just- it’s so limiting being in only one form. I don’t understand how you can stand it.”

“Well, I’ve just suffered I guess,” Seulgi says dryly, and blinks with Irene laughs, her voice loud and full as her shoulders shake with laughter. “I- you can stay if you like? We can figure details out later after getting into the city and getting you, um, clothing.”

Irene, it appears, finds the whole ordeal of clothing entirely pointless. Despite Seulgi’s insistence that she can wear the spare set of clothing she carries, Irene lightly informs her that she’s fine in just her own skin. She ends up making the argument for herself that Seulgi didn’t seem to mind when she’d been naked before as a wolf, and then ignored Seulgi’s insistence that that was _different_. “Why?” had been the repeated question as Irene’s lips twitched in a coy smile that suggested she was joking somehow.

Seulgi didn’t entirely understand how that was funny though, so she mostly just tried to ignore the topic after that. Irene wasn't that different in her human form from her wolf form, bounding around and making small comments but mostly on high alert. She smiled, eyes bright and flickering with gold and other muted colors as she helped Seulgi pack up the camp.

“Are you alright to travel like this?” Seulgi asks her as they set out, glancing down at Irene’s bare legs and imagining all the… cuts and injuries she could get.

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Irene says before pausing, looking thoughtful. “Although, I haven’t flown in _years_.”

“Flown?” Seulgi asks, feeling a big winded. Shifters are rare mostly in the meaning that few if any know jack about them.

Irene simply hums, looking up towards the canopy above them. “Do you mind?” is all she asks before her eyes suddenly flicker bright gold and appears to melt away into ash. Seulgi swallows down a shocked scream as the woman before her disintegrates into ash and dust to transform into another form altogether.

“I only wanted a hunting wolf,” Seulgi says weakly to herself as the massive form of a falcon suddenly launches from the ground, letting out a loud exalted cry as it flies through the canopy.

She’s going to have a _long_ talk with Jongin. She and her fist.

✖

“I was naked before, why does it matter?”

Seulgi breathes in deeply through her nose, eyes closed and trying to keep her tongue in her mouth rather than snapping. “I _know_ you were naked before,” Seulgi says. “But am I naked when I go into the city? Am I naked now?”

“No, but that’s only because you don’t want to be,” Irene says, walking with perfectly placed steps among the forest floor with a quirk to her mouth. “You’re choosing to be clothed, just like I’m choosing to be naked. Are you afraid of being naked?”

“No,” Seulgi says, looking at her companion sternly. They’re about an hour from the new city where Seulgi is meeting Joy and Jongin. She’s already received contact from Janus that they’ll pay her in full at the terminal set up there while Krepala is still stalling. Where the money is, Seulgi is, naked shapeshifter or not. “I’m not afraid of being naked. I am perfectly fine being naked, I just like being protected.”

“Doesn’t it get uncomfortable though?” Irene asks, scrunching up her nose and plucking at Seulgi’s jacket. It’s interesting finally knowing what ‘Flower’ would have said during the long walks through the woods. Seulgi might enjoy it more if she weren’t constantly distracted by how Irene also seems to enjoy holding onto her rather than just standing close to her side.

“Sometimes,” Seulgi answers, trying to make the argument _for_ clothing. Especially as they’re going into the city, she’s going to need Irene to be clothed among other civilians. Irene will attract enough attention for her looks; if she’s naked they’ll stand out like a sore thumb and that’s the _last_ thing they need. “I like them though. They’re warm and soft and protect me from things that can hurt me.”

“Like Beasts?”

“Like thorns and brambles and twigs that could scratch me,” Seulgi elaborates and Irene gives her a slowly raising look. “Plus,” she adds, going out on a limb. “You know I don’t mind being naked. You saw me naked before.”

“But you were washing,” Irene points out, easily throwing Seulgi’s argument. “Humans are so strange. Covering up their bodies. Yours is so nice, but you keep wearing all this stuff-“ she begins poking at Seulgi’s outfit, tugging at her shorts and jacket and shirt, hands insistent and hot against her “- when skin is far better.”

As if to emphasize her point, Irene leaps a bit ahead with nymphlike agility, her long hair fanning out behind her as her body twists and moves freely. “Congratulations,” Seulgi tells her, trudging through the undergrowth and throwing her a poorly hidden amused look. “You’re very naked. And still getting clothing when we get to city.”

“What’s the point?” Irene sighs, shaking her hair back from her face. “I can just shift back into a wolf. Or a cat.” She leans into Seulgi, her eyes wide and bright with inquiry. “Which is better?”

“Well, I did buy a wolf-“

It is still hard to get used to, watching Irene’s human form disintegrate in ash-like debris into a completely different shape, this time the familiar one of a wolf.

“Shall I call you ‘Flower’ again, then?” Seulgi asks, looking down at the large wolf and earning a snort and a glare. Seulgi laughs, finally feeling comfortable to reach out and ruffle Irene’s fur, the familiar feeling calming her twaning nerves.

It’s been a few days travel, and despite how firmly Seulgi tells herself that Irene _is_ ‘Flower’ the wolf, it’s been hard to swallow. Sure, Irene acts the same as the wolf, but also differently. There is a vast complexity to Irene that didn’t exist in the silent force of ‘Flower’. To add difficulty, Irene is far more affectionate than ‘Flower’ was, at least on the human scale. She is touchy, almost clingy, and curls up with Seulgi in the nights under the thermal blanket.

There is also the fact that Irene is stunning, a true beauty, and having her literally prancing around buck naked is distracting for the mercenary. That and how Irene keeps calling her ‘mistress’ instead of ‘Seulgi’ and stating her loyalties to her through the Maji bond Jongin had performed, Seulgi is fighting to keep her thoughts tame. 

Which brings Seulgi to her biggest dilemma; what to do with her?

“We’ll get you something to wear after I pick up the pay,” Seulgi tells Irene, watching as the wolf walks along side her just as usual. “Don’t give me that look, it’s for the best. You can walk around naked as a _wolf_ but not as a human. People will stare and get suspicious. I don’t want people getting ideas. _No_ arguments,” Seulgi finishes with a firm look at Irene.

She gets a muffled snort in response. 

It’s different walking through the city lines this time, the impressive size of Irene beside her, as large as a buck deer and with her massive tail swishing behind her. She’s a force to reckon with, and paired with Seulgi who already has a pretty solid reputation as one of the best in her field, they clear a path. The heads ducking away or turning to stare have Seulgi biting down a smirk in amusement as they pass by.

The borders of Janus are always flanked in the nation’s colors of green and black, the royal insignia branded on nearly every building. The people are similarly decorated, marking foreigners such as Seulgi, who wears her garments of almost entirely black and red and dull green, as outsiders. Hers are the colors of no nation, just as she is of none.

It’s not hard to navigate through the outer city here, most people far more organized than the mazes of Regal and the chaos of Krepala. The transmission to Joy is almost instant, getting a message ping that Seulgi waits to answer until after she’s dealt with a few things.

The Pit here, just like so many, is a mess of noise, people, and the whir of machines. Not looking for much of a job this time, Seulgi simply cues in the codes for the Utopica job and scans her own protected numbers, grinning as she watches her accounts raise by a hundred and sixty credits from the monarchy. “Knew it,” she murmurs under her breath, watching as the screen flashes in completion.

The job was definitely a high priority, especially considering what she did take out back in the Old Ruins. Quickly scrambling to new codes and encryptions, she turns to face the Pit to discover a wide berth has been given to her, most of those in the area avoiding her and the imposing figure of Irene, sitting and glaring with a curled snarl on her snout.

The image surprises a laugh out of Seulgi that has Irene turning to her curiously. “Good girl,” Seulgi says, grin in full force as she rests her hand to the back of Irene’s neck, the Shifter turning to her with a smug glint in her golden eyes.

People part for them like water running down a ridge. As much as Seulgi knows it draws attention to them, she also rather enjoys the way the usual gruff and obnoxious soldiers even get out of her way. She’s used to having to best them on her own as they try to shove into her way and having the clear path is extremely refreshing. Irene seems to certainly be enjoying herself, walking proud with her head held high, as tall as some men, with Seulgi’s hand resting between her shoulders.

The only moment when she resists is when Seulgi instructs her to wait outside of the market stalls as she barters for clothing. “Yes, you’re going to wear them,” Seulgi informs her sharply as the wolf looks at her reproachfully. A few minutes later, Seulgi almost yells in frustration as, while she’s picking over leather pants and a good jacket, Irene steps up beside her.

The vender, an older man with streaks of silver in his beard, nearly drops the items he’s trying to sell as Irene stares him down. “I want those,” the shifter says, pointing completely unabashed at a pair of high-waisted leather shorts and micro mail stockings. “Those and those,” she continues, pointing to a few cropped shirts and a brown leather jacket that.

“No,” Seulgi tries to growl, glaring at Irene as the shifter stands completely nude in the middle of the market stall and stares blithely back.

“You want me to wear clothes and I want those,” Irene tells her frankly. “Plus, the ones you chose are boring. I’ll wear those if I have them.” She smiles, angling her face cutely as she looks at Seulgi. “Or I can just stay naked.”

Seulgi ends up grumbling as she hands over a good twenty-seven credits for clothing for Irene. She’s thankful though when Irene emerges from behind the changing curtain of the market stall. The shorts hug her body nicely, the micromail tights transparent to show the markings against her skin as it extends down her legs to tickle the tops of her high leather boots. The jacket looks nice as well, the cropped top flashing skin as Irene brushes her hair off her shoulder to cascade down her back.

“I would ask how I look, but I’ll just assume from your face I look good,” Irene says, her eyes dancing in amusement as Seulgi shakes herself from staring.

“Are you satisfied with them?” she asks instead, looking up and down Irene’s clothed figure once more. As much as having her naked had been slightly jarring, having her clothed is almost more so. Seulgi shakes herself mentally.

“They’ll do,” Irene says lightly and waves to the red faced vendor as they leave. “They’ll just fall off when I shift.”

“Well, then that will be your problem,” Seulgi says, biting down on the issue rather than letting it stew at the back of her mind.

“Why?” Irene says, stopping with a frown in the middle of the crowded market.

“Because they’re yours,” Seulgi says shortly. The thing she dislikes about the Others most is when they, by all intents are free and their own, have a strange tendency to latch to humans. It’s almost servantile, and Seulgi has never been comfortable with it. Irene’s behavior, following after her is different now Seulgi knows she wasn’t a simple hunting wolf, because…

She’s not. Seulgi wanted a wolf, a companion and a fighter she would care for as a pet, but she didn’t want a person as a pet. That’s not her thing. It reminds her too much of how the nation leaders use their soldiers, sending them off as pawns for slaughter in the war machine that never seems to end. Seulgi doesn’t want to own a person, no matter what genus it originated from.

“You can go now,” Seulgi informs her, stepping back from Irene’s shocked expression. “You- I’m not your master. I bought you because of a miscommunication and you’re not my property.” Seulgi’s chest tightens. “You’re not _anyone’s_ property.”

“I don’t want to go,” Irene tells her flatly, her face fallen. “You’re-“

“I’m a mercenary, and you’re not a hunting wolf,” Seulgi continues. “For fuck’s sake, the only reason you were under that impression was due to a bonding spell from Jongin, and that fixation implant before. So-“ Seulgi takes in a sharp breath, staring down the glare Irene is directing at her. “You’re free to go. Take the clothing as collateral, your half of the pay for the job we just got back from.”

“That’s not how business works,” Irene counters, stepping up close when Seulgi makes to leave. “I like spending time with you. You bought me, and technically I chose you as my mistress-“

“Stop calling me that,” Seulgi says, bristling and stepping back. The shocked look on Irene’s face has her letting out a long breath, pulling Irene to the side of the market street. “Look, no debts. Okay? I forgive them all. So go be free and do what you want. Go back to your tribe.”

“They’re dead,” Irene tells her flatly. “You’re my tribe.” Seulgi wants to groan in frustration. There is a large part of her that just wants to say ‘screw it’ and let Irene stay with her. The rational part of her knows how dangerous it is to travel in pairs, how easily that can be manipulated against her.

She’s… fond of Irene. First of her as a wolf, but more as a woman. She likes her, even if Irene tends to talk in circles, she’s a bright creature and Seulgi finds herself more and more interested in her even as she knows the dangers of that inclination.

Irene would do better to not tie herself to anyone. Shifters are trapped and hunted for good reason: war. They’re bound, like Irene supposedly was with the fixation implant, into servitude towards a militia, and used for their skills and with twisted loyalties and control to spy and shift. They’re treated as both prized gem and expendable commodities.

Irene attracts attention, both as a wolf and even more so now as a beautiful young woman. Despite her own misgivings, Seulgi feels protective of her, and the rational part of her knows Irene is safer away from her life. From Seulgi’s world, this world.

“I’m no one’s tribe,” Seulgi tells her flatly.

“You’re mine,” Irene tells her, and the defiance in her voice is so strong it rings. “I was bound to you, and you are my tribe.”

The communicator at Seulgi’s wrist pings and Seulgi almost swears in relief. The message is from Jongin, and she immediately opens it half furious. “You fucking bastard,” she snaps at the projected image of Jongin. “Where the hell are you?”

“What did I do?” Jongin asks, freshly shaven (finally) and looking entirely flabbergasted.

“You cocked up my life, you dipshit,” Seulgi snarls at him. “Are you at the Pens?”

“Gaogil,” Jongin answers, opening and closing his mouth like a guppy out of water. “What did I-“

“Don’t move,” Seulgi snaps, turning to glance at Irene. “I’m coming to you.”

“Who’s that?” Jongin asks, looking at Irene in confusion as Seulgi closes down the transmission.

“I’ll break his arms,” Seulgi huffs, running a hand through her hair as she looks up at Irene. The shifter is still frowning, staring at the communicator.

“I still can’t believe he called me ‘Flower’,” Irene says, and her voice is edged. “What sort of moron is he?”

“Want to tell him?” Seulgi proposes. She could do with a distraction, and the look on Irene’s face is enough to make her feel a bit better about this mess she’s gotten into.

✖

“I didn’t know you had a girlfriend,” is the first thing Jongin says as Seulgi strides up to his table in the Gaogil Tavern. The next thing Jongin says is “please! I’m sorry for whatever I did ow! Ow! Ow that hurts!” as Seulgi’s vice-like grip tightens at the back of his neck and hauls him out of his seat.

“You shithead,” Seulgi snarls at him, dropping him back into his seat. He hunkers down, looking up at her with baleful eyes and a soft whine. Huffing with agitation, Seulgi pulls out one of the other chairs at the roughly scrubbed table and takes her place opposite him. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Who is she then?” Jongin asks, blinking in confusion.

“You sold her to me, you fuckwit,” Seulgi growls low. Instantly, Jongin’s eyes widen to the size of saucers, his face draining of color. Slowly, he turns to look up at Irene, who is presently glaring down at him with her arms folded over her bosom. She snaps her teeth at him, and Seulgi pushes down a smirk as her eyes flash gold.

“She…”

“I’m a shifter,” Irene tells him. Seulgi winces as her voice is just a bit too loud. Swiftly, she tugs her down into the chair next to her and then ignores the pleased look on Irene’s face when she turns to her.

“You sold me a shifter, dogbreath, not a hunting wolf, and I want my money back,” Seulgi tells Jongin. Half of it is in jest, because she does know that Jongin probably had no clue and was more excited about ‘Flower’s existence than the fact she might not actually be a wolf. “This is bad business.”

“If anything, I should charge you more,” Jongin grumbles at her, hunching over the table. “I sold you the highest pricing specimen on the market for dirt.” Irene lets out a low threatening growl at this and Seulgi stares at her long time friend. “I’m serious,” Jongin protests, though he withdraws a bit, looking at Irene warily. “Do you have any idea how much she’s worth?”

“More than you are,” Seulgi says with an edge to her voice.

“More than any job you could ever take,” Jongin tells her, his voice low and serious.

“So, what, you did me a favor?” Seulgi snaps, anger boiling under her skin. “I asked to buy a _wolf_ , Jongin, not some hot selling market item you didn’t even know you had.”

“I wouldn’t have sold her if I’d know,” Jongin says, and his voice is softer with apology as he looks at Irene. “I’m sorry Flower.” Irene immediately snarls and bristles, Jongin’s eyes widening in shock.

“Do you have any idea how much she dislikes that name?” Seulgi asks calmly as Irene continues to glare at Jongin and Jongin shrinks back into his chair. Jongin was never built for dealing with people, to shy and awkward around them. He was always more comfortable with his dogs, his wolves and his breeds.

“A lot?” Jongin proposes with a weak attempt at a smile.

“I hate it,” Irene grinds out through grit teeth, her elongating nails digging into the table where she clenches it.

“Oh,” Jongin says and shrinks a bit more. “I’m sorry, I thought it was a nice name.” Irene snorts at him. “I can’t give you a refund.”

“Why?”

“Suspicion,” Jongin answers and his eyes remain on Irene. “It’d be strange if I sold you a wolf and then you showed up with a woman and sometimes have a wolf and sometimes other creatures and I gave you your money back.” His eyes slide over to Seulgi and they’re harder, more calculating, resonating to that deeper intelligence Jongin buries inside himself. “Do you really want more attention than Flower already gets?”

Ignoring the growl from Irene, Seulgi leans over the table to him. “What do you suggest I do? She’s bound to me because of your infernal Maji tricks and-“

“No, she’s not,” Jongin interrupts with a soft laugh. “That seal only works for the first few days while the dogs get accustomed to their new masters. The bond from then on is entire between the master and-“

“Mistress,” Irene corrects bluntly. Seulgi twitches.

“their pet.”

“I’m not a pet,” Irene says before Seulgi can defend her. “I’m more than that, you ignorant Witch.”

Gaping at her, Jongin shakes his head. “I never said you- I was just explaining-“

“You know nothing of how the bondings truly work, aside from the dabbling in the Maji crafts from Sector 51, you-“

“Irene,” Seulgi interrupts sharply as the other woman’s voice rises in volume and venom. Immediately, Irene stills, sitting back with a glare at Jongin but quiet.

Looking between the two of them, comprehension seems to dawn over Jongin’s face. “Ah,” he says, and a soft smile plays about his mouth. “You’ve bonded.”

“She’s my tribe,” Irene says simply. Jongin’s eyes widen. Something tells Seulgi that the implications of this are beyond what she knows and that they’re certainly incorrect.

“I don’t want a human bonded to me-“

“I’m not human,” Irene cuts in with a pointed look.

“-so fix it,” Seulgi finishes, glaring at Jongin.

To her immense annoyance (and dismay), Jongin laughs. Head thrown back and shoulders shaking as the sound radiates from him, he laughs until his eyes glisten and then, catching his breath, turns back to her sour face. “I can’t fix it,” he tells her simply. “She’s chosen you as her mistress.”

“I’m not anyone’s mistress,” Seulgi says flatly. “And I forgive all debts.”

“It’s not as simple as debts,” Jongin says, and looks a bit apologetically at Irene. “Why are you still with her if you’re not longer bound to your wolf form?”

“She’s…” Irene falters, and looks at Seulgi. The look in her gaze suggests something more than Seulgi knows or understands, a loyalty that she’s not familiar with and deeper flickers and colors that she doesn't know. Irene is her own person, and Seulgi isn’t going to keep her on a leash. “She freed me from the prison of the implant,” the shifter finally says, her voice edged. “I owe her my freedom.”

“I give it to you,” Seulgi says.

“It’s not that simple,” Jongin tells her and Seulgi’s frown increases. “These… these are oaths and pledges that are deeper than just our human versions. We don’t understand them here on earth, but-“

“They’re finite,” Irene says flatly, her eyes never having left Seulgi. “Until repaid.”

“So,” Seulgi says, churning through all the information. “If you repay this freedom to me, then our bond is over?” Irene doesn’t answer, only stares at Seulgi as if trying to speak with her beyond words.

“It would seem that way,” Jongin says, voice quieter as he looks between the two woman. “Though, I may be mistaken, but I also think that perhaps Flow-“

“Yes,” Irene says, cutting off Jongin. “Until then, I will be by your side and with you as is custom from our bond.” The constant insistence on this ‘bond’ keeps a crawl traveling over Seulgi’s skin, warmer and warmer as if sinking into her flesh.

It feels like even just this conversation is bonding them further.

“It’ll be safer if she’s with you actually,” Jongin tells them. “Though I would suggest you keep to your human form until out of sight. It draws less attention than you constantly shifting, which will easily get you both slaughtered. Or at least, Seulgi.”

“Awesome,” Seulgi says dryly.

“I won’t let any harm her,” Irene says almost viciously, her eyes alight with fire as she takes in Jongin. “None.”

“Oh good,” Jongin says, smiling in what Seulgi assumes he intends to be a supportive way.

The next few hours are spent with the three of them discussing in a quiet corner of Gaogil how Irene should behave to convince prying eyes she’s not a target. A brief respite to the bar tips Seulgi off about a job for Krepala she can take after she picks up her bounty from the Republic. The conversation with the barkeep is enough of a break for her to clear her head, looking back at Irene and Jongin crouched over the table in quiet conversation.

Irene is, if anything, more affectionate. Already latching onto the ideas and patterns that Jongin explains about integration into the human world (that Seulgi never would have considered), she leans into Seulgi’s space. She’s fiercely intelligent, enthusiastic about learning and almost vicious about her ideas and herself.

Yet there’s something so inexplicably soft about her, the way she laughs and tries to joke in the ‘human’ way that goes straight over Seulgi’s head but has Jongin in stitches. It almost makes Seulgi feel more human.

Standing at the bar and looking at the shifter and Maji, Seulgi realizes that’s what she’d wanted a companion for in the first place; to remind her of her humanity. Out in the wilderness, surrounded by war and her jobs to slaughter nameless combatants or Beasts, she was beginning to forget it. It’s lonely, forgetting who she is, and first ‘Flower’ and now Irene are bringing it to life once more within her.

It helps remind Seulgi why she’s out there, fighting monsters and taking these jobs. She’s fighting for those who can’t, for those who don’t have the neutrality and are just all stuck in this mess of a war machine.

It reminds her that there’s something she’s fighting for aside from money. Irene gives her something to fight for, in both herself and in the shifter.

The warmth in her chest, spreading wide and fast shocks her. As does the sudden turn from Irene, fixing her eyes swirling with so many colors and hues on her own.

The shiver in her chest is harder to ignore when Seulgi rejoins the table, giving them all fresh drinks. She doesn’t pull away when Irene leans automatically into her, hand slipping to rest against her thigh and inclining into her space.

For a moment, Seulgi almost forgets about the agreement that she’ll let Irene leave as soon as the repayment is complete.

Then Jongin places down his glass and the sound knocks her from her reverie, and she shoves herself back into the harshness of reality.

✖

In grand total, the sum from the Utopica job that took out seven thousand experimental soldiers as close to close to three hundred credits. It ranks the best paying job Seulgi has ever taken. It also appears the last at least semi-neutral well paying job that Seulgi will take in a while. Despite Joy’s initially disappointment in how her ‘baby’ turned out to be a woman much older than she who insisted on sharing a bed with Seulgi, the two had gotten along quite well.

Seulgi had left Joy in the Krepala borders as she and Irene left for a new job, something along the lines of taking down scouts from Nara.

If Seulgi has a bias against any of the nations, it’s Nara. The nation itself is founded on beliefs, radical ones at that, and operates most of its tactics through devotion and terrorism. The majority of the people she’s met in Nara are all brainwashed or terrified into silence, afraid that speaking up against the might of their ‘Gods’ will bring their deaths.

Seulgi would tell them otherwise if she didn’t see the spidering lines of the corroded implants under their skin, poisoning them and monitoring them constantly. They’re slaves, in the best of lights, to the priesthood that run the nation and almost all of them addicts to the ‘divine waters’ that are distributed to counteract the effects of the corroded implant chips.

Most of the scouts or troops sent from Nara in it’s guerrilla warfare system (they’d given up on missionaries long ago after the other nations condemned their demands for blood sacrifice) have the reputation of being the nastiest. Usually hyped up on ideals and various mutations of the latest drugs and stimulants, they’re labeled ‘Berserkers’ after the demons of the old world. 

Normal humans until sent into the war, when they transform into insane violence driven monsters, fighting even past the point when a normal soldier would die. More terrifying is that they somehow have the Nyx, the Others in control of magic, or abstract energies, on their side.

In short, when the job came up, Seulgi had no issue in taking it and leaving the borders of Krepala to go and blow up half their Wilderness borderlands.

“Why do you hate them so much?” Irene had asked when she’d watched Seulgi read over the job details.

“It’s personal,” Seulgi answered her curtly. She doesn’t like talking about the Nyx. She doesn’t hate them, but they set her on edge. As much as she respects Wendy, the woman’s use of her Nyx blood and powers has always made her uneasy.

Even if Wendy and many of the neutral land Nyx use their powers primarily for healing, she’s seen it used for much worse ends.

She had thought the topic dropped as Irene let it go, instead turning to talk about the combat skills she used to know. Seulgi is fascinated by her stories, the shifter apparently once having been one of the prime warriors groomed for their tribe. She’d been trained in a sort of dance form of martial combat, showing a bit to Seulgi that left her breathless with how beautiful it looked. And how lethal.

“Shifters use their bodies,” Irene had explained after besting even Seulgi in hand to hand sparring. She was smiling and breathless and Seulgi found herself winded from more than just the kicks to her chest. “They’re our weapon, and we have to train them to perfection. They’re our tools, and we use them to speak, fight, and live.”

“It sounds exhausting,” Seulgi had commented, smiling as Irene had rolled off with an air of playfulness to sprawl in the leaves.

“Only if you make it so,” Irene had said and then laughed. Seulgi wasn’t really sure what was funny, but found herself joining in anyway.

The laughter has died by the time they reach the borders of the Nara Wilderness. The wood itself is different, the sounds of the animals and birds quieted to a hush and the trees twisted and almost alien.

“Remember,” Seulgi tells Irene, turning to her before the venture into the area. “You can’t-“

“Shift, I know,” Irene says, and smirks smugly at her. “I’m not stupid, I know how to not get killed. It’s not like I’ve never been in battle before.”

“Fighting as a wolf and fighting as a human are different,” Seulgi tells her, ignoring how this degree of worry is unusual for her. 

“And you know from personal experience,” Irene goads, and then laughs a bit, dancing from Seulgi into the wood. “Take care of yourself, and let me take care of me.”

The walk through the area is tedious, constant scans from the processor chip for mines or life that seems to be nonexistent and Seulgi trying to keep her wits about her. Nara puts her on edge, and the last thing she needs to be is anxious when out here. Stress is a good thing, but not if it impedes her ability to function.

The only distraction she has is Irene, who looks almost the phantom of how she was when in her wolf form. She’s rigid with attentiveness and responding to sights and sounds and smells Seulgi can’t detect. Her eyes keep flickering between their rich brown to a mess of other colors, gold flickering to blue to red to green to red.

Seulgi had, at one point, nearly yelled out at her when she’d noticed Irene hosting a pair of what was clearly cat ears atop her human head, twitching for sound in replacement of her own ears. “Don’t _do_ that,” Seulgi hisses, trying to calm her racing heart. The trees may very well be wired with surveillance, and they on film.

The scans from her own processor don’t indicate as such, but Seulgi knows when to trust instinct and when to trust technology. Technology has never saved her ass in a fight; instinct has.

“It was only for a second,” Irene pouts at her and in a flutter of ash the ears vanish. “Happy?” she asks with a huff.

“Euphoric,” Seulgi answers with a wan smile. She sputters and jerks back a moment later as Irene swoops _far_ too close and _licks_ her face. “What-! What did you-“

“Sh,” Irene tells her, scrunching up her nose pointedly and looking dead serious. “We have to be quiet.”

“You just-“

“You smell like me now,” Irene tells her, though there’s a glimmer to her eyes that speaks mischief. “Now it’s easier to keep track of you.”

“And you’re the one who kept calling _me_ mistress,” Seulgi grumbles as Irene walks a bit from her, spanning the distance and keeping visibility. “Why do I feel like I’m the one being led around on a leash sometimes?”

After their first night in Janus, Seulgi had found herself with Irene as a bedmate. While this had been fine when Seulgi had thought Irene was a wolf, now, she’s much more aware of it.

“You didn't mind before,” was Irene’s argument with a note of dejected hurt in her voice.

“You were a wolf.” Seulgi long learned to give up on arguing with her on this, as Irene failed to see what difference this made at all. In her mind, nothing is different, especially seeing as humans were just strange animals that rejected being naked. The more time she spends with Irene, the more she feels as if she’s being slowly tamed by her, the notions and ideas she has about the world filtered through a completely different lens.

Irene isn’t human, but neither is she animal. It puts a whole different perspective on the wars and the stupidity of humans for fighting for power that Seulgi was already fed up with. Irene, in many ways, is smarter than Seulgi is, simply because she understands this on such a level that it’s natural to her.

It makes Seulgi all the more aware of her, cautious about her, and curious about her. Lying in the night in the small tent under the thermal blanket with Irene pressed warmly to her side, she wonders if the slow prickling crawl over her skin is a bond or something else.  
A low whistle pulls Seulgi from her thoughts, looking up sharply to its origin. Irene is frozen a few meters away, poised behind a tree and staring into the wood. A second later Seulgi smells it, the acrid stench of burning flesh.

They’re close.

Catching Irene’s eye, she gives a small hand gesture to proceed carefully. With luck, they won’t have to take long. Just a few charges and some quick kills and the targets will be take care of quickly.

In a gully just after a large ridge is a small encampment. Looking down into it, Seulgi can recognize the insignia, the gray, red, and yellow branding on all of the materials. There are about six of them, men in minimal garb wandering about the camp. Their clothing, which doesn’t offer much protection, is typical of Nara.

Even at this distance, Seulgi can see the spidering black along their veins, seeping poisons into their bodies and killing them. She can also see the cases of the antidotes and, assumedly, their drugs for war. They once had used capsules placed in pulled molars, but too many were implanted incorrectly, and soldiers bit into them during meals, massacring entire villages when on rampage from the drugs effects.

At least that’s what Seulgi has heard from the reports that leak from Nara. Disturbingly enough, those are the nicer of the reports.

Carefully, Seulgi takes in the surrounding area. “Directory,” she murmurs, keeping her voice quiet. “Scan area within 100 meters of life forms and Nara operatives.”

“At present,” the implant replies, volume regulated softer in accordance with her own quiet voice. “Seven units within visual range. At 100 meters range, no Nara units active or present. At 500 meters range, no Nara units active or present. At distance 620, three units and one-“

“Confirmed,” Seulgi says, cutting the report off before it burdens her with unnecessary statistics. She’ll worry about the other three units and their… whatever it is after she takes out this group.

Unlocking one of the charges from her belt, she cradles the cylinder in her hand. It would be wise to take out the seven men below before any of them can react and get their fixes to attack.

Glancing to check Irene’s status, Seulgi breathes a low long breath upon seeing her. She’s crouched, poised and ready to fly down the gully into attack. Catching Seulgi’s eye, she nods once and sets back, waiting for cue to run.

Pulling back behind a tree, Seulgi quickly calibrates the charge, and then leans back to see the encampment once more. The crates near the center are curious, something she’s never seen before, but she doubts they’re good. They make as good a target as any, especially since this charge isn’t going to collapse into nothing. It’s just going to blow everything sky high.

Inserting the charge into one of the empty barrels of one of her hand cannons, Seulgi takes careful aim, setting the firearm to silent and propulsion only. Taking aim, she targets the side of one of the crates and fires.

The charge affixes instantly against the wood paneling of the crate, latching on and a soft beep at Seulgi’s wrist informs her of the count down. Without wanting to pause, she turns, motioning for Irene to follow her, and runs. She’ll worry about sound later, as for now she just wants distance between her and when that charge goes off against the crates.

“What were those?” Irene asks, easily running to her side as they sprint. Flinging herself down behind a rock that juts up in the wood, pressing back against it for protection, Seulgi turns to her wide inquisitive eyes.

“Nara infantry,” Seulgi explains, slightly breathless and keeping her voice down.

“No, I saw those,” Irene says. “I mean the other creatures. The ones trapped in the boxes.”

“The-“ Seulgi’s blood goes cold. “What boxes?”

“The ones in the center of the camp. They smelled so strange, and they-“

“Fuck!” Seulgi spits, twisting and fumbling for her pack, searching for the main external for the processor at her wrist. She _knew_ those crates were suspicious, but- “They’re not creatures,” Seulgi spits, rushing for the override for the charge. How could she have been so _stupid_. “They’re-“

Seulgi’s fingers have just closed around the external when the charge goes off, the explosion blasting in a shock wave through the air and swallowing all sound. What’s worse is it’s accompanied by an almighty screaming wail, shrill and piercing, like iron against glass and twisting Seulgi’s stomach to curdle.

“They’re hybrids.”

The newest abomination from Nara that she’d heard gossip of months ago. The distorted mutation of the Beasts and the creatures that Utopica had made, perfected by Nara’s finest. They’re worse than anything before, infused with the impervious aspects of the Nyx, they’re creatures from nightmares.

Where humans and the Berserkers fall finally to death, these new hybrids were rumored to fight past death, instead awakened by it.

The wraith soldiers.

The screaming continues, rising higher and higher on the air and Seulgi pushes down the terror that fills her as she hastily grabs for both hand cannons. Turning to Irene, she says the only thing that matters; “stay alive.”

Flinging out behind the rock, Seulgi sees the first one. It’s crawling in a sort of spider-like gait over the ground, hissing as it moves so fast she can barely track it’s movement. It’s half blown apart, red skinned and seared yet still very alive and very much deadly.

It looks like the strange mutation between a human and spider, too many limbs and a gaping hanging jaw like something out of nightmares with glowing ice blue eyes. A true abomination.

More of them approach, crawling over the hill, about a dozen, and Seulgi doesn’t waste time before opening fire. At least the hits of the hand cannon seem to slow them down, their shrieking screams rising in volume as they approach. 

The most useful thing the hits do is show the weakness of the monster’s limbs, tearing them clean off.

“Please don’t have a hydra gene, please for the love of sanity, don’t have a hydra gene,” Seulgi prays under her breath, running as fast as she can from the approaching hybrid and swallowing down her revulsion at the thing. She hits it twice square in between the eyes, blasting a hole larger and larger with every blast.

It takes another three shots, reducing the monster to a bloody mass before Seulgi moves on. She knows before taking down another that she’s going to run out of cartridges in the hand cannons, and the electromagnetic shocks from the weapons aren’t going to do much on Nara grade monsters. Ducking out of the way of a razor clawed foot, Seulgi manages to roll under one of the beasts, blocking out the violent screaming hiss it lets out that shocks into a screech as she twists up and slams the heel of her boot into it’s abdomen.

“Right twenty six launch!” screams Seulgi. She grits her teeth as the hidden grenade in her heel detonates and launches up into the beast and explodes. Twisting quickly to avoid the carnage from the charge, Seulgi twists and flings herself to the side just as another hybrid descends upon her.

Twisting to avoid the snapping jaws, she screams as one of the talons from it’s limbs grazes her side, cutting deep. Teeth grit and mind fogging, she grabs for one of the hilts at her waist. The brief click and the crackle of one of the emergency blades swings up, successfully decapitating the beast. A second later, the blade flickers out, and Seulgi stumbles to push up and –

“Stay alive!” shouts in her ear as she’s shoved to the side. Slamming to the ground, Seulgi grunts in pain as something heavy lands on her. The next second, a horrific snarl resonates through the air. Twisting to look up, Irene the woman is gone. In her place is an enormous black panther, the size of a small horse. In one leap it takes down one of the hybrids, tearing the abomination open before leaping to the next one.

 _Stay alive_ thunders through Seulgi’s veins as she pushes herself up, grabbing for one of the hand cannons and digging at her waist for a new block of cartridges. She takes down the next one with less ease and finesse, ending the fight with a labored shot to the thing’s spinal column before turning. Irene, a woman again, is standing bare, her body streaked in blood and evidence of a fight.

“You did well,” Seulgi begins, panting and feeling her body ache from the beating of the fight. Before she can continue though, a loud yell rips the air as a figure charges from seemingly out of no where. Seulgi barely has time to react before there’s a loud sickening crack, and the figure falls limp. As it crumples to the ground, Seulgi’s wide eyes find Irene standing just behind him, her teeth bared in a snarl and arms raised from where she’d snapped his neck in one swift move.

Swallowing down at the almost feral expression on Irene’s blood smeared face, Seulgi stills her quivering heart. “Berserker,” she says, looking down at the fallen human. “Good work.”

“Sick,” Irene says, and her voice is darker, as if still stuck in the animal within her. “They all smell sick.”

“They are,” Seulgi says with a bitter smile, looking around at the strewn bodies around them from the attack. Any other mercenary sent into this area would be dead. “They’re all of them very sick.” Her stomach twists into knots looking around at the bodies. “Directory.” There is a gentle crackle, and looking down Seulgi sees her wrist bleeding. The processor was probably damaged somewhat. “Scan of the area.”

“In radius, two units of Nara. Currently unstable.”

“Berserkers,” Seulgi says, and lets out a heavy breath as she looks back to Irene. “You shifted.”

“I lived,” Irene answers her. “As did you. I told you, my body is my weapon.”

Remembering her own emptied cartridges, Seulgi pushes her hair back. “How many was it?” she asks instead, pushing down the rising bile in her throat. She’s tired, and she knows this doesn’t bode well. This is now three nations she’s seen with prototypes preparing for war, meaning it’s closing in on them. A full war, the real final war. She swallows down and breathes out slowly.

“How many what?”

“That you took down?” Seulgi asks, looking up at the shifter. Irene is still bare, blood painting her in a gruesome mockery of art. She has gashes up her arms and some against her stomach, but they’re already closing. It makes Seulgi shiver, her own skin crawling as if trying to mimic it. “I counted my own at-“

“Eight,” Irene answers, her eyes hardening as she looks around the slaughter. “Including the Berserker sick one that was trying to kill you.”

Letting out a long breath, closing her eyes and pushing herself to her feet. She feels heavy, burdened with more than just the weight of her injuries, but also the weight of her conscious. Her heart. “Then it is repaid.”

The suck in of breath from Irene is expected, and Seulgi opens her eyes to see Irene’s eyes almost alight with fury. “What?”

“Your bond, your payment to me,” Seulgi says, pushing down the shake in her voice. It’s dangerous, and while she knows she wouldn’t have survived this attack if not for Irene, she also knows that Irene’s now revealed. Those Berserkers aren’t advancing because they _know_ something’s up. Even crazed warriors know when they’re running into an unstoppable force. And Irene is just that. 

“No,” Irene says, a low growl on her voice. “I-“

“You saved my life, now more than once,” Seulgi cuts her off, irritated at her own reluctance to do this. “I bought your freedom, and you just gave me my life. That’s a fair payment. It’s done.”

“The bond doesn't work like that!” Irene snarls, advancing with wildness in her eyes and Seulgi steps back. The action has Irene pausing, her eyes widening. “Don’t- you need me.”

“Why?” Seulgi asks. Irene isn’t safe, not anymore. She’s revealed in enemy territory, and the longer they stay together the more dangers they’re both in. They’ll go hunting for her, and if this ‘bond’ exists, Seulgi’s as much of a target as she is.

Seulgi will be selfish, explain that she’s selfish, taking care of herself first, making sure she’s alive and not in danger. It’s easier to do than to explain the complicated surge of protection knowing she’d just slow Irene down.

“Because you’re lonely,” Irene says, the words cutting into Seulgi.

“I’m a mercenary,” Seulgi says coldly. “We aren’t meant to be social or friendly people. I don’t live for a social life, I live to live, Irene.”

“That doesn't mean you’re not lonely,” Irene throws back, and steps closer. Again, Seulgi steps back, keeping a distance between them as she clenches her teeth. “I’m useful to you. I’m- it’s dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“So I’ll get another wolf,” Seulgi says, keeping her face stone even as she internally winces. She watches as Irene steps back, a shocked expression on her face. “I wanted one in the first place,” Seulgi adds, digging in the wound. “Are we done? Life for a life, it seems pretty fair payment.”

“But-“

“I’m not your mistress,” Seulgi snaps before Irene can continue. She can see the anger shaking through the shifter, the indignation and she can feel it herself. She’d be blind if she didn’t see how Irene liked her, how she was fond of her to the point of fierce loyalty and devotion. Putting her own life on the line for Seulgi to survive.

But Seulgi didn't ask for a human slave, a servant and pet to die for her in battle. She never asked for that guilt and that depth of connection.

“You’re not my pet and I don’t own you,” Seulgi finishes, turning away from Irene. “So, you’re free. We’re done. Go back to your tribe.”

This time, Irene doesn’t correct her with the familiar reminder that Seulgi has become her tribe, her family, her home. She just stands, smeared in blood and war with a stone-like expression and deep even breaths. She says nothing as she steps back, stopping to snatch her clothing before twisting and in a flurry of ash shifting into the stunning body of the wolf. Seulgi watches her go, a grim line to her mouth as she doesn’t call out for her, never bidding goodbye.

As she gathers up her things and pushes her hair from her face, cursing at the pain shooting up her arms, Seulgi closes her eyes to breathe. “Stay alive,” she murmurs to the earth, knowing that Irene can’t hear her.

✖

It’s much quieter on the return from the mission. The other two Berserkers are easily taken out once Seulgi locates them. Just for safe measures, she ends up lining the sector with hidden base charges and triggers to take out anything that follows.

It’s simple work but demanding of all her focus, and Seulgi lets herself get pulled into it readily. The taxing methods of rigging the mini-charges keeps her busy. That and the tracking of the area she does on the way back into the general Wilderness. It's quieter, somehow less menacing on the return journey to Krepala.

The transmission to the assignment for payment goes through easily, as does the message to both Joy and Jongin. Neither of them question further when she tells them Irene is gone. Joy looks a bit more upset than Jongin does though, who only looks somber.

“Do me a favor, dogbreath,” Seulgi says as Jongin simply nods with reverence. “Please don’t try to grow a beard again.”

“You know all the head Maji aren’t allowed to cut their hair,” Jongin tells her, some of the old light returning to his eyes.

“So you’ll look like a crazy wild man surrounded by your dogs,” Seulgi surmises. “What a future you have to look forward to.”

“Worth isn’t in appearance,” Jongin tells her before disconnecting the call. The nights are not colder, the thermal blanket offering just as much warmth as it always has. If anything, they’re warmer because Seulgi isn’t trying to steal it back from Irene after the shifter took it all for herself.

Back on ration bars as her wrist is still aching from the job, Seulgi ends up trekking most of the way back without much pause. Aside from washing the putrid stale blood from her skin of the hybrids, Seulgi only rests when it’s necessary.

Never before has the silence felt so deep, and never before has she realized how lonely this existence is.

Before, when she’d woken up Irene for the first time after her return to her humanoid form, Seulgi had thought she hadn’t valued ‘Flower’s company. Now, it’s deeper, missing Irene and her being… everywhere. She forces herself to swallow it down though, because sentiment like that isn’t safe or useful.

Seulgi has other things to do, like keep up running stats and repair the processor chip in her wrist so she doesn’t have to pay something to do it for her. She has to hunt and travel and keep up on the reports.

There are more important things in the world that her missing a wolf that turned into a woman that would wrap her arms around her own and smile like spring.

✖

On the borderlands of Krepala, Seulgi is startled from packing up for the morning by a soft click. Turning with her hand cannon already cocked and ready to fire in her hand, she finds the smiling face of Wendy greeting her.

After the monsters from Nara, the energy from the other mercenary is almost warm, welcoming. 

“You know, I thought you’d have learned not to sneak up on me after the last time we met,” Seulgi says, turning back to her camp.

“I did, but you don’t have your pet with you this time,” Wendy says, striding into the broken down camp and sitting herself on a bounder with ease. Her long hair is pulled back in a plait, falling over her shoulder prettily. “What happened? I thought that wolf would have sooner died than leave you.”

“Well,” Seulgi says, pushing down the bitterness in her voice. “As you can see, I’m not dead, and she’s gone.” Pausing to roll up her tent and stuff it into her pack, Seulgi looks up at Wendy. “Things happen.”

“My condolences,” Wendy says, and her tone indicates she means it. “She seemed like a wonderful companion.”

“She was,” Seulgi admits, to both Wendy and herself. It’s the first time she’s spoken anything of it since Irene left. “But it’s just me now. As it was before.”

“Not for long,” Wendy says ruefully. At her tone and expression, Seulgi stops, looking up at her. The Nyx blooded mercenary gives her a bitter smile. “They’re starting the first waves. Any in this area are recruited for war.”

“Whose war?” Seulgi says, almost sick of the whole thing. Jobs and payment kept her busy, but for once she just wants to lie down and sleep. “Our war? Their war?”

“Everyone’s war,” Wendy says, her smile twisting even more bitterly. “They’re allied. Janus, Regal, and Krepala all against Utopica. They’re calling for open war.”

“As if we weren’t already in open war,” Seulgi grumbles, thinking of the thousands already slaughtered between the nations.

“This is different,” Wendy says. “This is the possibility for a reconciliation between the other three against-“

“Against the only one that could actually take any of them out,” Seulgi answers. She knows how powerful Utopica is, just recently taken out their labs and their latest prototype Beasts of human soldiers. She shivers at the thought of open war with them. “Why not Nara?”

“You know as well as I that Nara is destroying itself as much as it’s enemies in this,” Wendy tells her with a scoff, tucking a leg under herself. “Those parasitic implants they use to control everyone are going to kill them all one day, if the population doesn’t go mad on drugs and kill itself first.” Seulgi winces at the image, the stories from Nara painting horrific images in her mind.

“So,” she says heavily, looking down at her camp. In a few weeks this area may either be a desolate battlefield or a massive army camp. “Our time has come?”

Wendy laughs, her pretty face creasing at the comment as she sits back on the rock, swinging her rifle to cradle it in her arms. “Our time has been happening,” she says with amusement in her voice. “Now it’s the time of the soldier, and to do what we’ve always done.”

“Stay alive,” Seulgi says, and earns a bright grin from Wendy.

“I look forward to fighting with you,” Wendy says, standing up and picking up one of Seulgi’s packs. “At least I’ll know someone on my side knows what they’re doing.” She laughs again, the sound somehow melodic among the forest and filling some of the empty space in Seulgi’s chest.

✖

It’s weeks before the first camps are set up, but it’s all rushing to get to them. Not wanting to deal with protests, Seulgi sends Joy into the mountains with Jongin, telling the younger girl to bite her tongue and be ‘good’.

“You’re not my mother,” Joy huffs at her as Seulgi tucks her hair under a cap to keep it hidden.

“Thank fuck for that,” Seulgi says with a slanted grin, patting her cheeks. “Your mother left you in a barrel when you were six to go gamble away her sanity. I’m so glad I’m not her.” Joy sticks her tongue out at her, but Seulgi isn’t surprised when she jumps on her a moment later in a near bone crushing hug.

“Stay alive,” she murmurs into the skin of Seulgi’s neck, arms tight around the old woman’s neck.

“When have I not,” Seulgi tells, her hugging back just as tight before letting her go to the safety of the Orders with Jongin.

The war camps are a mess. Soldiers running about under barked orders from superiors and commanding officers. “Do you think they get off on all this power tripping?” Seulgi murmurs to Wendy as they walk to one of the officers tents.

“Probably,” Wendy says, casting a look at one purple-faced man, screaming at his cadets to pitch a tent properly. “It’s not like they can get anything else in this miserable place.”

“It’s a good thing you never had any manners,” Seulgi says with a slight smile. “Or I’d have to remind you of them.”

“Thank fuck,” Wendy says and laughs with her as they turn down the main path.

They had both been recruited early on, Regal offering the best price for mercenaries among the Tri-Allegiance. They’d been positioned in a different sector of the camps, lest their ‘natures’ influence the other pledged soldiers somehow. They also, because of their extensive knowledge of the Wilderness, are given higher rank and permission and duties for the planning of attacks.

Their general, a shorter man who is about as human as he is cyborg, is softer than he’d first presented himself. Cunning and with a brain for war and governing troops, Minseok ends up being more along the lines of someone Seulgi feels should be in charge of wars. The decisions he’s made so far in the brief small attacks they’ve had were all far beyond the simple decisions Seulgi has seen in some of the other armed forces she’s watched go into battle.

“This is a war,” Sehun, one of the soldiers who works closely with Minseok had told her when Seulgi had mentioned it to him. “Wars are not battles. War is larger than just one fight, it’s many.”

“Thank you for clearing that up,” Seulgi tells him dryly. “I was really confused about the two.” Minseok had thrown her a look that told her he didn’t approve, but still thought she was funny.

It had left Seulgi oddly pleased after reporting to him for duty.

“What’s the news this morning?” Seulgi asks, walking into the tent and nodding to the captain standing just inside. Chanyeol steps aside, nodding to her in turn and flashing her a small smile. “Anything exciting from Utopica?”

“I was hoping you could tell me,” Minseok says, frowning as he looks over their terrain board. The projected image of the three dimensional Wilderness glows in synthetic colors above the ground at about waist height. The Old Ruins are marked out in red, Utopica’s borderlands outlined in yellow and their lands in blue amid the green of the basic terrain. “You took out the labs in the western districts of the old capital, did you not?”

“I may have,” Seulgi answers, shifting her weight as Wendy throws her a look. “What about it? Are they using the labs again? Those were leveled.”

“They’re not using the labs, but I think they’re using a developed form of the prototype they had been creating in those labs,” Minseok says, nodding to Chanyeol. The other man produces from behind his back a battered and ripped up soldier’s pack, clearly been through battle. From it he pulls a few items, clicking them into the processors by the walls of the tent.

Immediately, the projection of the field map vanishes instead into a frozen image of what appears to be an attack. Soldiers, their soldiers, are fleeing while the monsters Seulgi had faced in the western districts charge into the viewer. They’re not exactly the same, but Seulgi knows them. The black skin, the eyes, the limbs and the forms of them sends a shiver up her spine again.

“When was this taken?” Seulgi asks, her voice darker as she looks at the image and notices a few differences. The Beasts had definitely been upgraded, perfected from the prototype she’d taken out.

“Last night,” Chanyeol answers, stepping into the image and flickering with the reflected light. “A special unit had been sent into enemy territory. We lost contact with them about twenty minutes after they crossed the Rhye and one of our men arrived back with this pack just before dawn.”

Swallowing down the tightness in her throat, Seulgi nods. “How is he?”

“Dead,” Minseok answers curtly. He doesn’t flinch, instead nodding to Chanyeol and switching the landscape back into view. At the look Wendy sends him, Minseok sighs. “It was for the better. He asked for it rather than any alternatives. Said he’d rather die than become half of himself.” He smiles with a bit of a twist, flexing his own bionics hand as if in reminder to himself.

Seulgi hasn’t met many who are so intimately constructed out of machine, but from the look on Minseok’s face, they have their own stories, and they’re not pleasant. 

“What can you tell me about these creatures?”

“Soldiers,” Seulgi corrects, tasting the bile rising to the back of her throat once more. Minseok’s eyes widen and Chanyeol’s brow furrows. Seulgi takes in a deep breath. “They’re not Beasts, they’re soldiers. Part of the super line that Utopica had been conducting since they introduced the Genus project two years back. These-“ she gestures to the pack still held in Chanyeol’s arms “-are the next step, blending Beast with soldier to create-“

“Monsters,” cuts in a new voice as one of the majors steps into the tent. “We’re fighting monsters, ladies and gentlemen.”

“You’re late,” Chanyeol says, frowning at the major as he walks into the group, taking his hat from his head with a graceful sweep.

“I’m here though,” Jongdae says, grinning up at him. “That’s the important part you seem to be missing.”

“Here doesn’t excuse being late,” Minseok corrects and stares down his grinning Major. “Fall in.” He sighs, turning to Seulgi. “We need to know whatever you know about these things,” he tells her, glancing at Wendy. “Both of you, seeing as you’re the only useful mercenaries we have in this damned camp.”

“Thank you for that glowing compliment,” Wendy mumbles under her breath as Minseok turns to chew out a grinning Jongdae about time tables while Sehun sniggers in the background.

“Take what you can get with these kind of people,” Seulgi says turning to the other woman. “And be thankful we’re not with Song back in the third division.”

“True,” Wendy says, before turning back to the arguing men. “Do you think they’d mind if I called them all to order?” she muses, looking them over. “Or is that against their time schedules too?”

Seulgi snorts and hides her laugh into her hands, reminding herself that war is no place for laughing. Then again, they have to find a positive point somewhere amid the grim setting.

✖

_Consider it an honor_.

To hell with honor in Seulgi’s opinion. Honor can go and take it’s prideful ass and go stick itself up a tree for all she cares. She’s more invested in saving her own hide from certain death. The certain death being the territory she and about five hundred other soldiers are currently marching into. 

“Ironic, isn’t it?” Wendy says from beside her, a military grade helmet from Regal strapped to her head. “We spend most of our time fighting to fuck up these bastards and in the end wind up fighting for them and dying just like the others.”

“We’re not dead yet,” Seulgi says shifting the bulky pack on her back and trying to adjust to the weight. She’s not used to carrying around so much equipment. Most of it (basically all of it) is entirely unnecessary in her opinion. The soldiers out here are just going to get slaughtered, no reason to burden them down in the fight for their lives.

“Thanks for that optimism,” grunts Chanyeol from beside them. He’s almost comical in how tall he is out here, a blatant target with his captain’s uniform. “We really need that for morale.”

“You know what’s great for morale?” Jongdae chirps from ahead of them, turning in the marching formation to grin at them. “A heartwarming war ballad.”

“If you sing I’ll shoot you myself,” Seulgi tells him pointedly. “Save the enemy the trouble.”

“They’d just rip your head off anyway,” Wendy reminds brightly, a twinkle in her eyes. “Then you definitely won’t sing anymore.”

“You two are seriously going to doom all of our soldiers before they even fight,” Chanyeol sighs, shaking his head at the two mercenaries.

“I like them,” Sehun chirps. Somehow, the young cadet had managed to fit himself in with his superiors, wiggling probably with his duties as Minseok’s page into their social world. He’s a sweet kid and Seulgi will be sad to see him die.

“See? Sehun has excellent taste,” Wendy says, grinning and punching the stringy cadet in the arm. “Pity he has to die.”

“Pity we’re all going to die,” Seulgi adds.

“Morale,” Chanyeol says pointedly as Jongdae does a horrible job at hiding a laugh. It’s morbid, extremely morbid humor at the entire thing, but there’s no point in skirting the truth. “Please.”

“Fine,” Seulgi says, looking up at him and tilting her helmet back. “We’re not marching into battle. We’re just all going for a very heavily armed picnic with Utopica and they’re going to make us flower crowns.”

“I said optimism not insanity,” Chanyeol tells her, though his mouth twitches.

“You get a gold star for effort though,” Jongdae tells her and throws her a thumbs up. “I liked it at least.”

“That’s because you’re a suck up,” Sehun chimes in and grins a moment later when Chanyeol laughs, clearly pleased with himself and Jongdae’s deflating expression.

They’re right on the border, the terrain mapped out for them earlier in the tents with extensive detail from Minseok. Seulgi is a relatively sure it’ll all go to shit once actual fighting begins, but it sounds like with his plans they’ll at least win the battle with some survivors.

The tensions are running high though, and Seulgi can feel it among the soldiers. They’re all thinking it as they pick between the Wilderness, that they’re walking to their deaths and too afraid to say it. Most of them have never faced death and, like Chanyeol, Seulgi understands wanting to avoid the topic and soften the concept.

But, unlike Chanyeol, Seulgi knows that sometimes it’s easier to deal with if the topic isn’t taboo. They’ll scare themselves into a quick death if they’re too afraid of death to fight.

“If you live-“ Sehun begins with a shake in his voice.

“When I live,” Seulgi corrects him as the young cadet steps up to her. “Stop thinking in ‘if’s, Sehun, you’ll just make yourself sick.”

“If I die,” Sehun rephrases, looking at her with weight in his brown eyes. Seulgi doesn’t correct him this time. “Can you deliver a message?”

Biting her lip, Seulgi steps back a bit from the younger man. “I’m a mercenary, Sehun. Not a messenger.”

“It’s for my family,” Sehun explains. “And-“ he blushes.

“What is it?” Seulgi asks, wanting to get it over with before Sehun gets too worded. She’s seen the color of his skin and the way he stays away from meals, the puncture wounds at his neck. Those who have been ‘turned’ are rare, but primarily because they bond immediately to those that select them to turn rather than feed on.

It makes Seulgi wonder who Sehun belongs to, who he left for war and who is waiting for him to come home.

Or not.

A low swoop in her stomach has her stepping closer, leaning into the younger man and his pale cool skin. “Just-“ Sehun takes in a shuddering breath and presses something into her hands. “Just give it to him. And tell my family I love them.” He smiles, a bit of fear flickering behind his eyes as he looks down at her.

“I give you my word,” Seulgi tells him, and means it as her fingers close around the token. She smiles herself, hitting him with a light punch to the shoulder. “Stay alive.”

The soft laughter and smile from Sehun has Seulgi’s smile widening, reaching up to bat his helmet a bit before stepping back. He reminds her just a little of Joy, the bright smiles and cute concern under the tall figure and serious looks. Except Joy is safe up in the mountains with Jongin, and Sehun is most likely walking directly into-

“Attack!” shouts from the far left, and Seulgi whips to the cry, hand flying to her hip. The hand cannons she usually carries are upgraded, the electromag charges replaced with a higher charge, guaranteeing a kill even if the chamber isn’t loaded with a bullet. At the far left flank of their unit, Seulgi can just make out a swarm of something seething around the soldiers in the area.

“At arms!” bellows Chanyeol’s voice from directly behind her, suddenly much louder than she’d ever heard him. “Soldiers! Brace for-!”

He never finishes, as instead of the surge from the left a sudden screech erupts directly in front of them and a massive Beast plows through the front infantry. It’s much larger than the Beasts Seulgi found in the western distracts, enormous broad leathery wings stretching from a body too thin to be human any longer as a screaming face with wide bloodshot human eyes stares down at the soldiers.

It’s exactly as Seulgi had thought, the footmen stilling for just a moment in shocked horror at the monster as it stares them down. “Fight!” she screams at the top of her voice, shoving through stunned soldiers forward.

The delay from shock costs men their lives, the Beast ripping through them as more of the abominations descend on them. The sudden dull thuds and cracks of weapons firing filling the air. Seulgi runs, legs never ceasing as she fires round after round into the never ending flood of Beasts rushing into the military flanks.

It’s a blur of endless movement, constant screaming sounds and the hard packing of bodies coming into contact amid the dull thuds and cracks of firearms going off. Amid the fray and the blasts from her own hand cannons, Seulgi can hear the high bangs of Wendy’s rifle, double loaded with specially designed cartridges infused with her Nyx magic. Lethal and something she never wants to deal with, Seulgi steers herself clear of it.

The new Beasts are something out of a nightmare, the human qualities tainting their voices to a grotesque scream that rattles her bones. They fight unlike anything she’s ever seen, and even the Janus T1200 units that have been called into action in the second rows of infantry aren’t a proper match. Seulgi watches them go down with a sort of bittersweet vindication, knowing their flaws from having taken them down herself.

The number of bodies ahead and around the area keeps increasing, more soldiers from the Tri-Alliance rushing up to take the place of the fallen and the Beasts keep coming. “Chanyeol!” Seulgi yells, turning from where she’s just taken down another monster to try to see through the fighting. The captain is no where to be seen, and Seulgi swears, running back through the battle.

They need to fall back, the area ahead too perilous and pushing forward just puts them into Utopica lands that are most likely rigged with mines. Watching how the Beasts are falling on them, it’s from the trees, not the ground, meaning the ground probably isn’t safe.

Snarling as something catches her arm, Seulgi turns with the barrel of her hand cannon pressed into the face of her captor. Jongdae stares back with massively wide eyes.

“Pax!” he shouts over the fighting. “Pax! I won’t kill you, promise!”

“Where’s Chanyeol?” Seulgi shouts, pulling away only to bring up her gun again and shoot directly over Jongdae’s shoulder. The shot hits directly into the eye of one of the Beasts, sending it screaming to crash into the ground. Jongdae stares at her with wide astonished eyes, flinched away from the gun.

“Do you always just do that?” he yells over the battlefield.

“Mostly,” Seulgi shouts back, twisting to check the area for assault. “We are in a war at the moment.” Shooting another Beast that charges into the area, she turns back to the Major with her teeth grit. “Where the fuck is Chanyeol?”

“Back in the second lines,” Jongdae shouts, pushing himself up to fire at his own targets. Seulgi almost stares as he draws a blade, electric blue and twists it with the agility of a specialist. “Something to do with the second wave of support.”

“Good,” Seulgi grits out. “Stay alive!” she shouts before running off, barreling into the thick of the fighting that has centered in the middle of their flank. The nest of Beasts all ripping through soldiers is nothing but a death circle and Seulgi fires into it. Any human she hits is as good as dead anyway, seeing as the Beasts will have taken whatever life from them by the time she can break it apart.

“Fucking wars,” Seulgi snarls, flinging herself to the side just as a Beast flies at her, dropping from the sky. “Fucking-“

The next words are smashed from her chest as one of the enormous leathery wings slams down on her, crushing the air from her and leaving her stunned. Gasping and fighting to regain herself, Seulgi opens her eyes to the wide gaping face of the Beast.

“Shit,” wheezes from her lips as the thing screams and dives at her. It crashes against her, but where the sink of teeth into her flesh should be comes nothing, just the painful rip as they catch on her and the head… rolls away.

“Stay alive!” bellows at her in fury, and Seulgi blinks up to the livid almost glowing multicolored eyes of a woman she never thought she’d see again. “What did I tell you to do? Stay alive!” Irene doesn’t hesitate to snarl at her as she leans down and grabs Seulgi from the ground, hoisting her up.

She looks vibrant, even dressed in full battle armor. It’s unlike the rest of the soldiers, instead perfectly fit to her in full micromail and plated with a metal Seulgi’s never seen before. In her free hand rests a bloodied sword, shining even in the dim light and grime as Irene glares at her.

Despite the fighting, Seulgi can’t even deny the rush of happiness at seeing her. It’s strong enough that she laughs, the sound bubbling from her chest as she takes in the shifter’s irate expression.

“I thought I told you do go away,” Seulgi says, biting down the smile on her face. It’s hardly the place for a reunion, the carnage around them extensive, but still, Seulgi can’t help but feel oddly delighted. 

“Yeah, you did,” Irene snaps at her and then snorts in irritation. “Moron,” she adds before her mouth quirks. “I thought you would have figured that I was too good to give up.”

“I don't like pets,” Seulgi says. A moment later she pushes Irene down, out of the way as a Beast lunches, shooting it straight into the mouth and through the back of the head. Pulling back, she feels Irene’s arm hook around hers tightly as the shifter pulls her close, almost chest to chest.

“I’m not your pet,” Irene tells her, breath ghosting over Seulgi’s mouth. “I claimed you as my tribe because I want you to be my tribe.” Her eyes burn with that same foreign and exciting depth that makes Seulgi’s skin writhe in response, her heart racing. “ _That's_ my bond with you.”

As Irene’s grip on her arm tightens, Seulgi’s mind flashes back to the conversation with Sehun, and her eyes widen with the possibility. A bond that is beyond just the master and pet formula that Jongin had specialized and used on them and instead something stronger, deeper than that.

Similar to the kiss that latched Sehun to whoever his blood-feeding mate is. 

“Oh,” Seulgi says, and Irene’s eyes flicker. Then she smiles, and her teeth are revealed to be pointed, vicious looking. 

“Live first,” Irene says, pulling back with a pointed graze of her fingers to Seulgi’s side. “Then talk.” As she withdraws, she slowly disintegrates into ash, her body shifting in one smooth motion into the massive form of a wolf, twisting in the air as she launches at an approaching Beast.

A grin taking over Seulgi’s mouth, she nods, turning herself with Irene at her back for cover, and lets loose the fires of hell from her own weapons. It’s like being free, familiar with Irene’s patterns of combat so the two move together almost flawlessly, Seulgi maneuvering through Irene’s patterns and the two twisting through the battlefield to take down the hords of Beasts. 

Among the carnage, it’s a beauty of violence between a team that that day earns the name ‘Unstoppable.’

✖

Two things come from the first battle with Utopica. The first is a victory for the Tri-Alliance. The second is that Seulgi and Irene as a duo spread like wildfire, labeled as the deadliest team on the field. Walking amid the tents, Seulgi smirks to herself as she hears some of the surviving soldiers talking about them, recounting the battle and claiming they’d seen unimaginable things.

 _Good_ , Seulgi thinks to herself as she hears them talk about how she supposedly took down fifteen Beasts in one blow. Stories like that are good, for both work and for intimidation.

It’ll put her and Irene at a higher profile and probably in a bit more danger, but it’ll also mean less will mess with her. Names have power, and they can do things that others without that status can’t.

The best is that so far, no one has seemed to understand that the wolf on the battlefield that _did_ take down at least seven Beasts in one attack is the same as the woman who walked with Seulgi back at camp. It means that no one saw her shift, and that those who claim to are quickly silenced as being ignorant.

Minseok, to his credit, kept whatever observations to himself. The battle had seen shifts in his men that he hadn’t expected or counted on. The fight had brought out the hidden natures in most of the men, the mixed blood that shows just how few of them are pure human. The men suddenly shifting and changing in the midst of the fray, Sehun’s turned form as he moved at inhuman speeds and strengths, tearing through foes. The most shocking had been when Seulgi had come up against what she initially thought were more mutant soldiers from Utopica only to realize the half cat and gryphon were the major and captain of her division.

Stepping into the main general’s tent, Seulgi wouldn’t know from looking at Jongdae and Chanyeol that they were anything but human had it not been for the events the day before. Seeing her, both men incline their head in a respectful nod.

“At ease, soldiers,” she says, smirking a bit at the rare respect shown from both of them.

“I’ll prefer that you don’t try to steal my chain of command from me,” Minseok says dryly, turning from his makeshift desk to look at her. He smiles, the fresh wounds on his neck and face making the expression somewhat grim. “I’d like to think you an ally, not a threat. Especially after the display you and your familiar put on yesterday.”

Seulgi doesn’t bother to correct him on the term ‘familiar’. After Wendy had summoned up a horde of unspeakable monstrosities from who knows where, nothing is too far out of the question. Or the imagination. Instead, she laughs, stepping up to the general with ease. “Wouldn't dream of it. I didn't sign up to order around a bunch of new bloods to run blind into attack. You did.” Minseok’s smile twitches. “I’m just here for the pay.”

That had been the agreement. The Tri-Alliance is wise enough to know the mercenaries won’t ally themselves for too long, the tie of control and command too volatile. Their own allegiance isn’t meant to last either, and while their own citizens may be loyal, they know the mercenaries not to be.

The benefit is that those among the troops that are paid to fight are now marked in war. Like it or not, Seulgi’s newfound fame has just painted her on a side and her neutrality is done. 

At the side of the tent, Jongdae lets out a scoff, poorly disguised. Seulgi ignores him, her eyes on the general.

“You’re later than I thought you'd be,” Minseok tells her, stepping back to the desk and swiping his hand over the main processor. “Wendy was here at dawn to collect her payment, and she wasn’t even the earliest.”

“I had business to attend to,” Seulgi says. Business such as smuggling Irene back into camp half naked trying to find the rest of her armor. It’s the sort of thing that keeps one up at night, breaking down a tent and reconstructing it to accommodate a wolf that doesn't actually exist. “I would hope that doesn’t effect my pay.”

“Not at all,” Minseok tells her, letting out a long sigh as he looks over the flashing projected screen before him. “Just means we can enjoy your charming company a bit longer.”

“And optimism,” Chanyeol grumbles from the side. He doesn't lower his eyes when Seulgi directs a sharp look at him, simply stares back with the steel countenance that tells her he knows. She lingers, wondering if he’ll speak up about Irene, and lets out a silent breath when he instead blinks slowly, giving a small nod.

It’s not much, but the knowledge of knowing the shifters themselves will keep their brethren safe is enough for her. She’d seen Chanyeol shift, larger than Irene had been in her own form and just as terrifying in battle as a great creature from the old legends. The soldiers are all calling what they saw a demon, risen by the Witch Queen who had summoned the dead army.

All things considered, Seulgi is rather satisfied her own name isn’t as terrifying as the others. Or as humiliating as Jongdae’s, who has been formally redubbed ‘cat-man’ by half the camp.

“Do you require anything else?” Minseok asks, turning to her. “Aside from payment of course.” He pauses, his bionic arm extended over the screen. “Of course, you would be offered more to stay on as a permanent member of the militia. Regal would pay you well to serve with it.”

“Just the payment,” Seulgi says, flashing him an empty smile as she steps back from the table. “In full, with the mark of completion towards the account. I’ll be out of the camps by nightfall.” She lets her smile broaden, stepping back further with a wide sweep of her hands. “It’ll be as if I was never here.”

“From what the troops are clamoring about, I doubt there will be chance of it ever being as if you were never here,” Minseok says, though amusement lights up his war-hardened eyes. “Regal thanks you for your services.”

“And I thank it for my money,” Seulgi says, with a bit of a mocking bow. She nods to both Chanyeol and Jongdae as she leaves the tent, her eyes lingering on Chanyeol for just a moment longer. At the entrance of the tent, she offers a smile to Sehun, handing him the necklace he’d pressed into her hands the day before. “Give it to him yourself,” she tells him, her smile genuine this time to Sehun’s shocked face. “Stay alive for him and yourself, not the war.”

“But-“ Sehun sputters.

“Why do you fight?” Seulgi asks him, and turns before Sehun can answer him. She’d found her own purpose for fighting yesterday, a resonance that she’d forgotten in the years of solitude and mindless jobs between nations and endless warfare. With it again, she feels invigorated.

Taking the back paths to her own tent, Seulgi slips in through to peace and sanity away from the soldiers constant stares and whispers only to stop dead. “That’s my bed,” she tells the woman currently snuggled into her blankets, grinning up at her. Irene is clean, her skin almost shining and smooth where it peeks from under the thermal blankets. Seulgi knows without checking that Irene is bare under the blankets. She swallows. “You know, I haven’t even had a chance to lay in that bed yet.”

“So come join me,” Irene says, her smile widening as she sits up, the blankets falling away to reveal her smooth skin, skated with those foreign markings and her soft round breasts. “What’s stopping you? The fight is over.”

Sighing, Seulgi drops her pack that she’d carried to the general’s tent, her holster following it with her hand cannons. “Why are you still here?” she asks, looking at the woman in her bed with a weight in her chest. Irene frowns at her. “You’re not bound to me, in war or in payment. So why are you here? You can leave and be-” she clears her throat from the rising tightness “-free.”

“I am free,” Irene tells her, and lets out a soft laugh. Pushing herself to stand, the blankets falling from her to crumple at her feet. “I am free and I chose to be here. To be with you.” Seulgi pauses, taking her in, all of her, not just the skin but also the tone of her voice and the tilt of her head, the fire in her eyes. “I chose to come back, after you ‘released’ me and fight with you. You _know_ that battle would not have done as well without me yesterday. You wouldn’t have-“

“So you saved my life,” Seulgi says, not moving away when Irene approaches her. “Are you seeking repayment then?”

“Not everything in the world is money,” Irene tells her, stepping up and into her space, her warm breath ghosting over Seulgi’s lips. “Some things go deeper than debts and dues and payments and contracts. They’re more than just being set free.” Her lips curve up in a soft smile as her eyes soften, the colors held behind the brown pulsing gently. “Some bonds are made without being forced, they’re chosen.”

Biting her lip, Seulgi suppresses the shiver that threatens to rush through her as Irene’s fingers brush up her arm, wrapping around her wrist and holding. The touch is hot, searing almost as it spreads through her so like the odd shivers and crawling she’d felt every time she’d thought of their ‘bond’ earlier. “So what kind of bond is this then?” she asks. “Is this you making me your tribe?”

“Well, since you refuse when I try to call you mistress,” Irene begins and laughs at Seulgi’s protesting grimace. “Then yes, this is me showing you that I want to stay with you, not out of duty or contract, but because I want to be.” Seulgi isn’t familiar with how confessions in the shifters work, but she’s rather sure this is one. Taking in a slow breath, she tries to read it in Irene’s eyes, to figure out if she’s right.

“It’s dangerous,” Seulgi says. She doesn’t want to say no really, because she already knows she misses Irene when she’s not there. Irene is something that reminds her of the meaning in life, behind what she’s doing, and together they’re unstoppable in combat.

“So is all of the world apparently,” Irene says, her voice light and teasing as she steps closer. “I’ll be careful. We’ll be careful.” She hesitates for a moment, and Seulgi stills, waiting for her to lean in and-

Seulgi almost jumps when Irene does, tilting her head as she presses closer and, instead of pressing her lips to Seulgi’s cheek, drags her tongue over the skin instead. She pulls back, an expectant look in her eyes that falters as Seulgi starts to laugh. “What?” Irene asks, a pout to her pretty lips. “I was displaying-“

“You affections?” Seulgi asks, the rising feeling in her chest not unwelcome. It’s not wise for a mercenary to travel with a companion, two targets slowing things down and causing complications. But the world is changing, and she is no longer a simple mercenary. She can make a few exceptions. Laughter quieting, Seulgi winds her arms around Irene’s waist, letting her hands run over the soft warm skin and relishing in the soft hitch of breath from the other woman. “Did Jongin teach you that?”

“No,” Irene says, and looks a bit stubborn despite the soft flush to her cheeks. “That’s how you humans show affection. By licking each other or-“

She stops as Seulgi leans in and gently presses her lips to Irene’s in a soft kiss. Pulling back, Irene’s eyes are slightly muted, and the flush in her cheeks has risen. “That,” Seulgi tells her, enjoying the warmth that spreads through her at the heating look in Irene’s eyes. “Is called a kiss. It’s how we, I, show affection.”

“Do it again,” Irene tells her, a quirk to her lips as she shifts to wind her arms around Seulgi’s neck luxuriously. “Or-“ She never finishes, instead leaning in herself and kissing Seulgi. It’s inexperienced, but it takes very little coaxing on Seulgi’s part before she’s kissing with a bit more finesse.

Irene had always been a fast learner, and as she pulls back, breathless and flushed, Seulgi has the distinct impression that Irene will be happy to learn many other things.

“You’ll have to be a wolf for a lot of the time,” Seulgi tells her seriously. “Not many will take that long before they realize the woman I travel with is the same as all the creatures I fight alongside on the battlefield.”

“As long as you don’t call me ‘Flower’,” Irene says, her bright eyes dancing as she winds her fingers into Seulgi’s hair. She joins in with Seulgi’s laughter, resting their foreheads together.

“So what should I call you?” Seulgi asks, her humming gently as she lets her lips travel along the curves of Irene’s jaw and neck. Watching them for weeks, it’s almost a relief to press her lips to them and feel the soft sigh of Irene against her. 

“By my true name,” Irene murmurs into her ear, voice thick and sensual, resonating with an unspoken power. “Juhyun.”

“Juhyun,” Seulgi repeats into the soft skin of Irene’s throat and gets a confirming hum of approval in response. “My Juhyun.”

“My Seulgi,” Irene whispers low into Seulgi’s ear, tugging her closer and with a light laugh into the softness of another kiss.

✖

The soldiers, and no other that they encounter, dare to get in the path of Seulgi and her Great Wolf as they leave the camp that evening. It appears as if their story has spread like wildfire through the Tri-Alliance and their cities. Even Joy, when Seulgi finally gets in contact with her, laughs for an unnecessarily long time over the communicator at her newfound ‘celebrity status’.

Agreeing to meet on the borderlands of Regal and Janus, most of the journey is made with Seulgi walking beside Irene in her wolf form. As much as Irene likes to tease, flitting about shifting to tease Seulgi’s patience by becoming a raven or a mountain lion (and once a dragon), she easily apologizes with a soft kiss. Seulgi knows she’s going soft as she ends up forgiving Irene for these shows of mischief, humoring her jokes. She also grows more and more attached and fond of the other woman as the days pass.

When they meet on the border down of Regal, Seulgi finds herself with an armful of Joy, who is positively frantic with excitement at the return of her ‘baby’. Irene, to her credit, leaps and bounds about playfully with her, tumbling among the grasses outside the town gates as Joy laughs loudly. It leaves Seulgi to turn to the other two who had arrived with Joy.

Jongin simply smiles and nods in greeting, his face once more hosting the patchy stubble that Seulgi bites down a laugh at. Beside him is Wendy, decked out in entirely new clothing that shines blue in the catching light.

“You might have told me you were more than just working as a mercenary,” Seulgi tells her, taking in the other woman in the clear robes of the Priestess Maji.

“Well, I had to have some secrets of my own,” Wendy says, a quirk to her lips and her coal-lined eyes dancing in amusement. “Besides, I rather like the new name. ‘Witch Queen’ sounds far more ominous than ‘the Blue Lady’ ever did.”

“And terrifying,” Jongin adds helpfully. “Did you really raise a horde of the dead?”

“Ask Seulgi,” Wendy says with a teasing smile and glance at her. “She was there.”

“Thousands of them,” Seulgi tells Jongin, enjoying the stunning and slightly awed look on his face. “An army of them enough to take down a whole city.” It's a drastic exaggeration from what had happen, especially since what Wendy had summoned were definitely not undead but most likely creatures from her own dimension.

“I thought you didn’t practice black magic,” Jongin says, turning to Wendy with a bit of nervousness in his tone.

“Surprise,” Wendy chirps, winking at him before she and Seulgi laugh at the breeder’s obvious confusion. “I also see you have your pet back,” Wendy observes, looking out to where Irene and Joy are tumbling in the grasses. At her words, Irene stiffens, snapping her attention to the small group, her bright amber eyes fixed on Wendy.

Laughing, Seulgi wraps an arm around Wendy’s shoulders, smiling as Wendy’s confident expression falters slightly. “I dare you to call her a pet one more time,” Seulgi says, leaning into the new Order Maji. “See how forgiving she is.”

As if summoned, Irene comes bounding towards them, her large form forbidding as she slips to Seulgi’s side, her eyes fixed on Wendy.

The Maji Nyx laughs, her voice lighter as she regards them both. “So you realized it then?” she asks, looking between the two as Joy calls for Jongin to her. “What she is?”

“I have a pretty good idea,” Seulgi says, and her own look of meaning is strengthened as Irene growls low beside her. “I’d appreciate it if that was kept quiet though.”

“The only shifter in my knowledge is Captain Park,” Wendy says loftily, stepping back and brushing her bluish black hair over her shoulder. “He was the only one any saw on the battlefield. I said nothing about your pet.”

Irene snorts at her, and Wendy, to Seulgi’s surprise, snorts back. It startles a laugh out of Seulgi seeing the surprised look on Irene’s face, matched by the calmer expression on Wendy’s. She waves it off as nothing when Jongin and Joy join them, asking what’s so funny.

“Your attempt at facial hair, obviously,” Joy answers before Seulgi can, and it spurs all of them into laughter.

The sound rises in the air, lingering even as Seulgi and Joy depart with farewells to the others, Irene close to Seulgi’s side as they go. For a moment, it leaves the world in a brighter light, the sunlight hitting around the Wilderness and the mountains in the distance with a sort of calming brilliance.

“So,” Joy asks, looking between Irene and Seulgi. “This is a thing now?”

“Yes,” Irene says, shifting into her human form suddenly and earning a yelp from Seulgi as she leaps to drape over her. “Definitely a thing, little one.”

“I’m never going to get used to that,” Joy says, wide eyed as she watches Irene laugh and Seulgi roll her eyes as the shifter’s arms wind around her neck. “Seriously, can’t you warn?”

“Then it’s no fun,” Seulgi says before Irene can, and earns a laugh from her lover, as well as a soft swift kiss to the cheek.

“And that’s what life is all about now,” Joy asks, a definite note of skepticism in her voice as she watches Irene pull away to shift back into her wolf form. Bounding ahead, Seulgi watches her, the sleek gray fur and the power contained in her form.

“Among other things,” Seulgi says, a soft easy smile on her face. “We all have to stay alive for something.”

The sun lights up the world into hues of gold and brilliance, and Seulgi’s heart beats fully as Joy smiles at her, as if truly happy.

“Yes,” she says, nodding and her eyes bright and full as her gait lightens. “We do.”

The Wilderness is full of dangers, from the Old Ruins to the new battlefields and territories laid out with the outbreak of true war among the five nations. It also holds the promise of a future, the space between where a victory may one day be held, and those who did stay alive through it all, can see and end to the fighting.

With luck, Seulgi will be there for it. With even better luck, she won’t be alone. She smiles with the idea of a future where that’s not her dream, but her reality.

✖


End file.
